The Fire Inside
by alexajaye
Summary: Vampire mates Jasper and Edward are out hunting when they find a young girl named Bella. She's not just any girl. She has a gift. And soon, her very existence will change the immortal world as they know it. AU/Vampslash. OOC. Other canon Couples. M for blood and fangs and all kinds of things that won't fit here.
1. The Hunt

_**Okay, so here's Story number Three, if you've been paying attention. And here goes the longest Author's Note I've ever had to write since I started writing Fan Fiction.  
**_

_**First, I hope you like it, and rest assured that it really is just a beginning.  
**_

_**Also, I don't own Twilight, but I do reserve the right to mess up her entire universe.  
**_

_**Lastly, this is un-beta'd so all the mistakes you see are mine.  
**_

_**And now, the important stuff I feel compelled to let you know before you read . . .  
**_

_**Summary: Vampire mates Jasper and Edward are out hunting when they find a young girl named Bella. She's not just any girl. She has a gift. And soon, her very existence will change the immortal world as they know it. When her life is threatened, they soon fight for her in a struggle that could destroy her for all eternity.**_

_**"A bond forged by fire is never broken." — author unknown**_

_**"She's just a girl!" he cried. "Not something to experiment with!"**_

_**Jasper (26) — 1510-1536 Empathy/Mood Manipulation**_  
_**Edward (24) — 1615-1639 Telepathy/Mind Manipulation**_  
_**Bella (17) — 1698-(1915) Pyrokinesis/Fire Manipulation (human)***_

_**Carlisle (29) — 1362-1391 Mimicry/Absorption of abilities**_  
_**Esme (25) — 1455-1480 Biology Manipulation**_  
_**Rosalie (21) — 1506-1527 Kinetic Absorption/Telekinesis**_  
_**Emmett (24) — 1518-1542 Teleportation**_  
_**Alice (20) — 1598-1618 Precognition**_

_**Aro (22) — 0016-0038 Extensive Telepathy/Dream Manipulation**_  
_**Marcus (32) — 0020-0052 Extensive Relationship-sensing ability**_  
_**Caius (28) — 0021-0049 Extensive Power Negation**_  
_**Alec (16) — 1675-1691 Sensory Negation**_  
_**Jane (16) — 1675-1691 Biology Manipulation**_  
_**Demetri (23) — 1345-1368 Extensive Ecolocation/Tracking Ability**_  
_**Felix (22) — 1389-1411 Thought Projection**_  
_**Chelsea (27) — 1468-1495 Extensive Relationship Manipulation**_  
_**Renata (24) — 1276-1300 Extensive Psychokinesis**_  
_**Gianna (37) — 1878-(1915) Minimal Enhanced Senses (human)**_

_***Bella's power utilizes that of not only fire, but also heat, which causes her metabolism to remain high. This allows her to heal rapidly and age slowly. She only appears to be seventeen.**_

_**All vampires have Enhanced Strength, Speed, Endurance and Invulnerability. They are not dead, but rather a separate species that perpetuates itself through the infection of Human tissue. It only takes a bite to change a Human to a vampire.**_

_**They're all pale and inhumanly beautiful. They all drink Human Blood, though not all of them hunt their victims. All have Enhanced Agility and Senses.**_

_**All vampires possess an Extra Sensory Perception ability, though it doesn't always stem from the individual's personality or disposition.**_

_**They can go days between feeding, becoming colder as the days pass, but all are warm after they feed. All retain their human eye color after transformation; their irises pale when feeding.**_

_**No Vampires can walk in the sun. The virus inside their bodies reacts to UV rays from the sun, causing near instant combustion. This can be avoided by thick, heavy clothing or tempered, double-pane glass over dwellings.**_

_**All vampires grow stronger with age, as do their abilities — sometimes with detrimental effects on the other vampires and humans around them.**_

_**All vampires are lustful creatures and have cravings when they go too long without feeding. They're rendered sterile upon being infected with the vampire virus, but all have blood and other bodily fluids contained in their bodies.**_

_**The only thing that can truly kill a vampire is decapitation, but it is also effective to drain them of their blood, cut out their heart and burn them from the inside out. Unless their body is discovered, the vampire will remain eviscerated until more blood and a new heart is placed in their bodies. The former is permanent. The latter has only been employed a few times — the results were not good.**_

_**The Vampire World has three leaders: Aro, Caius and Marcus — the Volturi. The Volturi have a guard made up of several talented vampires to keep their citadel inside Volterra, Italy safe from attack by others.**_

_**Only two laws are ever harshly enforced in the Vampire World. The secret of their existence must be kept at all costs, and no human is ever to be changed without explicit consent. Any disruption of these laws will result in immediate and sometimes cruel punishment by death.**_

_**Carlisle Cullen is the only other vampire among their kind who's also begun his own coven. With five members currently, they function as a family, opting to keep a group of humans with them to stay fed without randomly killing and drawing attention to themselves.**_

_**In 1536, Jasper Whitlock awoke on the side of an abandoned trail after having been attacked and left for dead by a strange man. He found that he had incredible strength and speed, but he also possessed an unquenchable hunger he was unable to control or ignore. He was found by Carlisle and given aid to discover that he'd been changed into a vampire without his consent.**_

_**After learning what he needed to survive, Jasper left Carlisle without the intention of returning, but for a few decades, he could not figure out why he was unable to keep from killing the people he fed from. Carlisle had said nothing of finding one's mate or how the process was meant to be performed.**_

_**For nearly thirty years, Jasper wandered the known world aimlessly, only killing a few people in a single month as he thought of a way to feed himself without killing. There seemed to be no way. It was at this point that Jasper stumbled upon a small village filled with people suffering from an unknown disease. As a vampire, Jasper was unaffected, but when he found a woman and her adult son quarantined from the others, he realized they were the worst.**_

_**The woman died before Jasper could save her, but the son, whom seemed to know that Jasper was there to help him, was saved when all it took to expel the disease from his body was a single bite. Jasper never understood why he was drawn to this man, but when his charge woke from a two-day transformation, it became clear. This was his mate.**_

_**Edward Masen woke from his transformation confused of his surroundings but aware of Jasper's presence despite the man's apparent distance from him. He found he could hear all of Jasper's thoughts and his maker could detect when he was scared or upset. Over the first several months of their existence together, they grew to trust each other or protected each other when others threatened them. The idea of loving Jasper wasn't foreign to Edward. In fact, it made more sense than anything ever had.**_

_**In the Vampire World, it's only common to take a single mate — whether by choosing to create one or having met one with a mutual need for companionship. But it is not unheard of for vampires to have more than one mate. As Vampires cannot procreate, the possibility of creating child vampires is prevented and punished if it ever happens. The youngest vampires in the world are Alec and Jane, who were both sixteen when they were created. Any human younger than thirteen is not to be marked or changed. The reason for this has much to do with control and appetite, as children have no control over their insatiable hunger.**_

_**It is also unheard of for a human to possess any quantifiable ability that will not grow when they are turned into a vampire.**_

* * *

_**The Hunt**_

"Yield!" he yells above me, his hand pressed to my torso as the earth beneath me trembles.

Dirt flies in every direction, and the trees around us shudder and creak. Even they're afraid.

A grin plays its way across my face, and then he smiles, knowing he's bested me again.

I hold my hands out in surrender, panting needlessly as the heart inside my chest clammers for peace.

He rises slowly, taking my hand and pulling me to my feet. His strength grows every day, and after more than three hundred years, we've learned each other's ins and outs.

The fact that he can read my thoughts and I, his emotions, has helped, but only in furthering the bond we had made upon my discovery of him.

"Did you let me win?" he accuses, his brilliant green eyes wondrous and still slightly innocent.

"You undervalue your strength," I soothe, cupping his face in my hands and stepping centimeters closer to him.

"You still treat me like a student," he reminds me.

"I don't mean to. Forgive me."

The lopsided grin I adore so much creases his left cheek, and I release him reluctantly.

"Besides," I add, "you're much faster than I could ever hope to be, Edward. I never need to let you win. Perhaps we should play a new game."

He shakes his head, allowing the mess of golden auburn hair to fall into his eyes. "I'm hungry," he says instead.

I tip my chin to the sky, telling him silently that I agree. "Then we hunt."

He doesn't pause, shooting off before I can stop him.

We've been in the New World only a few decades, but it's been simple enough to learn how to remain hidden from the humans. Some of them are very smart and have to be avoided. Many of them are nearly as ignorant. Those are usually easier to pick off, but we only take one or two in a town before moving on.

Mostly we prefer to roam. Our home is with each other, and no matter where we go, we hold to that as fiercely as we hold each other. We stay close to the less populated areas, stalking our prey and feeding when the time presents itself. They find death quickly in these growing times.

When we arrived here before the turn of the century, we were sure it was only by some miracle that these people had survived. Though Edward is nearly three hundred years old by my counting, he's still young — exuberant — and I'm still guiding him in the subtle ways to know the human condition. It's the best way to know who to hunt.

My innocent mate, though he's nearly twenty-four in his body likes to feed on the lowest humans imaginable. He does this because it makes him feel better about having to kill at all. For a time, we tried an animal diet, and even though the carnivores were more enjoyable than the herbivores, after about thirty years, it was too difficult to resist the pull of human blood.

I usually forget the day, but I'm more than four hundred years old. I have to read a local paper to know the date. The last I was aware it was almost November 1915. It's almost Halloween.

I remember the first All Hallow's Eve I experienced with Edward when he'd still been new to our life. The appeal of human blood had been so strong to him, and he hadn't even considered killing the guilty, evil people of society.

We'd still been in England, so the festivities had been abundant. Edward had been so beautiful in his immortality. Over the first several days, weeks and months of his initiation into my life as a vampire, I admit that I'd taken advantage of his innocence as well as his blood lust, but it had eventually become normal for us. Now it was nearly as customary for him to target young men as often as he took prostitutes.

The New World is still new to us, and we're learning to make a good living from what we find. From where we are now, I can smell a small group of humans nearby, and there are several emotions filtering through the air around us. Lust. Hunger. Desire.

My sense of smell has also picked up on the pungent odor of humans coupling, but their voices are still muffled by distance — or perhaps, by each other. I can feel that Edward has noticed this as well, but suddenly, his emotions are focused elsewhere. Suddenly, I sense fear, pain and self-loathing.

These are not his own emotions. I'm uncertain how I know this, but when he comes to a halt in the middle of the forest around us, I have to know why.

"What's happening?" I demand.

I don't have to sense his emotions now. I can see on his face how scared he is, and I'm confused.

"Don't you feel her?" he pleads, reaching for my sleeve and grasping tightly.

I step closer to him. "Her? Where is she?"

He clenches his eyes shut, concentration and determination covering his face like a mask. "She's alone. Scared. She hates herself for . . . killing her family." He opens his eyes and looks to the northeast. Without waiting for me, he again shoots off in the opposite direction of the humans we were tracking less than a moment ago.

I follow him as quickly as I possibly can, gradually sensing the emotions he's describing as they emanate from an old abandoned house standing alone in the middle of the forest. The temperature has begun to fall, but it barely affects us. The girl he's apparently hearing, on the other hand . . .

He starts to go inside the abandoned house, but I stop him.

"Edward, please. Wait. You could scare her."

"But I need to help her," he says desperately. "She needs me. Please, Jasper. She's so afraid. We can help her."

I've never heard him speak this way in all the three hundred years I've known him. He sounds more than just determined. His voice is laced with understanding and longing. The look in his olivine eyes tells me he knows nothing but her in this moment.

I let him go then, following him into the house as we approach the girl he's heard.

The wind rustles dying leaves around the house, and a breeze hisses through the broken windows. The wood creaks along the steps as I follow Edward inside, and a porch swing groans softly with the direction of the wind. These things, along with the absence of anyone else in the house but the girl, cause me to realize this place has been abandoned for years.

Inside the house, the enclosure does nothing to shelter us from the elements, and I glance around the front rooms before following Edward up the stairs. From here, I can hear whimpering, and I can smell human blood. A heart pumping rich sustenance through veins and arteries, hammering against ribs and lungs until it drowns out the whimpers. My mouth is salivating, and I'm reminded that I haven't fed in almost a week. If Edward plans to save this girl, we'll have to find others to feed on so she'll survive our presence.

Skittering and shuffling draws my attention to a room at the end of the corridor on the second floor, and Edward senses this too. His hope and determination have increased the further into the house we've gotten, and he's moving at a faster pace though still moving slowly enough to keep from startling our prey.

"She's not our prey, Jasper," he admonishes. "She's special. I can smell it in her blood. Don't you?"

I'm not sure what he's smelling, but with him being able to read her mind, I'm sure he's picked up on something other than her scent. He said she hates herself for killing her family. How did she accomplish this?

"She burned them," Edward explains softly, inching down the corridor and stopping at the last door as it sets closed.

"Burned them?" I repeat. "How?"

He looks at me and grins the same way he did before. "I told you. She's special."

Without any other information, he gently turns the door knob to open the door.

The girl's scent is most enticing inside this room. It fills my lungs, and I feel my fangs descend before I realize it.

"Jasper," he says, halting me in the doorway. "Maybe you should stay out here."

In favor of gaining control over myself, I bow my head and lean into the door frame while he takes his first steps into the room.

She continues to whimper, crying now that she's seen him.

"I won't hurt you," he soothes. "I want to help you. It's all right. You're safe. I swear."

Her fear increases slightly, and her sobs become even more audible than they were a moment ago. I take a small step into the room, clenching my teeth and holding my breath to see what Edward sees.

She's a small thing, probably not even seventeen years old. Her dress is dirty and tattered, and it smells like she hasn't had a bath in several days. The mess of brown hair on her head is shiny with oil from not bathing, and her skin is smudged with dirt. Her eyes are the most impressive — chocolate brown and so innocently wide that I can no longer look away from her. If I hadn't seen her, I probably would've left her here, but she's nearly as impressive to me as Edward was in his disheveled state.

He kneels in front of her, holding his hands out to show her he doesn't mean her any harm. "I know you're scared," he whispers. "And I'm sorry about what happened to your parents. I'm so sorry. But you're safe now. No one will hurt you."

The small decrease in her fear is replaced by anger, and before I have time to react, the sleeve covering his arm erupts in flames. I move in an instant, reaching his side in less than a split second and removing his sleeve before the fire can spread. Pulling him away from her, I look over the newly burned flesh over his arm. Usually, our skin heals in seconds, but I wait for more time than it should take, and he's not healing.

"I don't understand," I exclaim.

Edward doesn't have any explanation either, keeping his eyes on the girl. She's pulled herself back up into the corner, staring at us, but she's no longer scared. I can tell now that she's confused.

I help Edward to his feet and look around the room. Outside the room, the sky is continuing to darken, and I know we need to find somewhere to stay for the night. I also know we need to feed, as it's been several days since we've had anything.

"Stay here with her," I tell him. "Don't get too close. I'll bring us something to . . . eat, and I'll find something for her as well."

He grabs my hand and makes me look at him. "Be careful," he pleads. "And by that, I mean, don't get hurt. It'll take more if you do."

With regards to our audience, I lean in only close enough to whisper to him. "Try not to get burned again," I tease. "We'll have to take care of that later."

Edward pulls me even closer, almost kissing me. "Then we really will need more."

I don't argue, glancing at the girl and then turning to leave. I have to hurry. Locals are always more suspicious at night. We can only venture out during the day when it's heavily clouded, and today was one of those days. Tomorrow, it might not be.

Upon leaving the house, I turn my senses elsewhere, concentrating toward the direction where I smelled the other humans. It will take me a little while to get there, but it's better than endangering the girl my mate has latched onto. His voice is still prominent in my head as he continues to attempt keeping her calm. Her anger and fear have been replaced with confusion and intrigue. She's unlike most humans we've encountered. She isn't actually afraid of us. I know now that she's more afraid of herself.

I don't have Edward's mind-reading abilities, so I can't gauge her mental state. The truth is I've never had to worry about it until now. Would we inflict more damage to this girl by being in her presence? Was this even a good idea?

* * *

_**Okay, so new story, new rules. I hope the bit at the top gets everyone into the details of my mutilated universe. I hope I didn't give too much away about Bella, but let me know what you think.**_

_**I'll update next week, but until then, I'll be sitting over here hiding behind my hands patiently.  
**_


	2. Willpower & Hellfire

_**And now for the last update of the morning. A few people seemed interested, and I know there was a bit of an information vomit in the first chapter, but I didn't know how else to do it. Blame that on me, not the story.  
**_

_**Hopefully this chapter will shed a little more light on these two. And as I said in Chapter One, these vampires are alive in every sense of the word. They just don't make babies. Also, there's some explicit stuff in this chapter, so if you're not old enough for that, don't say I didn't warn you.  
**_

_**A new tidbit about Bella will be revealed at the end. I'll leave you to that until then.  
**_

_**This is all un-beta'd, so any mistakes you see are all mine.  
**_

_**I don't own Twilight, but I sure do like screwing with her characters.  
**_

* * *

_**Willpower & Hellfire**_

When I make it back to the old abandoned house where I left my mate with a potential death hazard, I'm carrying two of the humans I smelled before we came here. The woman and man I'm hefting on my shoulders feel so light that I'm able to still run fairly quickly and arrive less than an hour after leaving Edward.

His emotions aren't as defined over the distance, but when I step into the house, I'm overwhelmed with the highest level of curiosity he's ever exhibited. I can hear him whispering to her, but she's still silent. Her heart isn't beating as fast, so I must presume Edward has accomplished his task in calming her. She's no longer afraid or angry. The emotions coming from her are dwarfed by what I'm feeling from my mate.

I make a space in the living room — or what used to be a living room. The fireplace still works, much to my amazement, and once I've made sure the shoot is clear, I break down several chairs to use as kindling. It only takes a minute to start a fire, and I find sheets for the humans before disrobing them and making sure they're well under consciousness so I can retrieve Edward and this girl.

Numerous times, Edward and I have fed on the site of where we find our prey. It's easier to get rid of the bodies that way, and by the time any of the people nearby find what we've left, we're usually long gone. In the nearly three hundred years since I've found him, I've never once contemplated making any other human in my midst into a vampire. The process is long and painful, and I couldn't sit through another changing even if I wanted to. And the one time I did it was with him.

"My parents are gone too."

Edward's soft voice reaches my ears as I round the corner onto the floor of the house where I left him, and I slow to a near crawl of a walk to approach the door I left standing open. He's sitting in the floor in front of her, closer to her than I would've allowed him and holding one of her hands in his with her palm open and facing him. Of course, he senses me before I step into the room, glancing back at me the instant I'm close enough to make her skittish again.

Her little body tucks into a tight ball even as he retains his hold on her, but she lifts her eyes to look at me just before he speaks to me.

"You weren't gone long," he says, and then he smiles.

"It's well passed evening. You should feed before our company downstairs becomes aware of their surroundings. And you need more than I did."

Though he pauses for a few seconds, there is no hesitance in his movements as he scoots closer to her and slowly pulls her to her feet. She stumbles, and her queasiness causes a reaction in my own equilibrium before Edward lifts her in his arms.

"It's all right," he whispers to her. His eyes find mine. "Everything's all right."

I don't argue with him, giving him space and then following him as he steps out of the room with her. I know where he's going, but I'm uncertain this is a wise course of action.

"I can't explain to her what we are if she does not see it for herself," he says, to me this time. "I've told her we won't hurt her, but she must know what we do to survive. It would be unwise to let her out of our sight beyond this point, and she'll need to know how to spot another of our kind if something separates us."

He speaks of her like he's already bonded with her, and for the slightest moment, I'm worried.

"Don't worry, Jasper," he says. "I have enough room in my heart for you and Isabella. More than enough."

Of this, I have no doubt.

Edward has always been a very loving mate. When I first found him, he gave himself to me so willingly. It was difficult to not love him or cherish him. I've protected him as best as I can since the first night we spent together after his first kill. If he says he can have me and . . . Isabella in his life at the same time, I have to trust him. I will trust him.

A soft laugh escapes, and he turns his eyes to mine. "That's good to know," he grins.

The man and woman are both still unconscious when we all arrive in the living room, naked and covered in any number of body fluids. The other man I fed on before coming here had only just finished having his way with the woman before they all passed out, and I took advantage of their mental state as well as their physical state. Because I'm able to manipulate emotions as well as gauge them, I put a cloud of happy contentment over them all to make them more pliable.

After burning the other man's remains and burying them, I'm somewhat filthy, and after Edward deposits Isabella in an arm chair near the humans I've brought for him, he steps in front of me with a devious smile on his face.

"It seems we'll both need to disrobe," he teases, tugging on the hem of my shirt and pulling it over my head. The first thing he does is kiss the scar of my own changing as it mars my left shoulder.

His shirt is next, and my own hands find his mark which is in a more traditional spot along the bend of his neck between his jaw and his collarbone. Then I lean him back to look at him equally as mischievously. "Yes, it seems we will. And we'll need warm water."

As I am only an inch taller than him, he finds my lips easily, lightly touching and whispering.

"Tend to Isabella. I'll find what we need."

With that, he steps away from me, leaving me alone in the living room with our new charge. It's very apparent to me that Edward has taken it upon himself to care for her, and I know it's my responsibility to make sure they're both all right.

But if she burns me as well . . .

I take slow steps toward her, wanting to make sure she knows I won't harm her. She pulls her legs up to her chest and then her feet into the chair she's sitting on, holding herself tighter the closer I inch to her.

"It's all right," I say as gently as I can. "I won't hurt you. I want to help you."

I've never purposefully approached a human without the intent to kill them. The first time I approached a human under a watchful eye, I killed a man twice my size, and considering I'm over six feet tall, it was quite a feat. My teacher told me no one else could've done what I did. I can still remember him, and I wonder what he's doing now with his own coven.

"You're . . . different from him."

The tiny voice that brings me out of my thoughts belongs surprisingly to Isabella as she stares at me from her chair. I move closer, and slowly, she relaxes.

"I am," I nod. "But only on the inside. Only in my mind. My name is Jasper. You're Isabella."

Despite her dirty appearance, I can see now that her skin is smooth and paler than even me. How long has it been since she was outside?

"How old are you?" I ask softly.

"I . . . think I'm seventeen. Mama and Papa died when I was little. I've been on my own a long time."

"I know the feeling." I extend my hand then, silently requesting hers, and it takes a minute before she mimics me and lays her hand in mine. Her palm is warm, bordering on hot, and I'm so curious that I scoot closer until I'm kneeling in front of her and touching her face. The smooth skin of her cheek is also hot, and her pulse is racing even though her emotions are calm. "You're so warm," I say, caressing her other cheek with the back of my fingers.

"It's her fire," Edward reveals, appearing at the edge of the room with a large metal tub of water and carrying it to the fireplace. "Come, Isabella. We'll bathe you, and then I'll feed myself."

She follows his beckoning easily, stepping away from me and moving to where Edward has set the tub. It's big enough for two people to sit inside comfortably, and I watch amazed as my mate proceeds to remove her tattered, dirty dress.

This shouldn't surprise me, especially since Edward has always been gentle with girls and women. I think it has a lot to do with his mother whom he still remembers and mourns and his sister whose face he can no longer remember clearly despite still crying her name when he has a rare nightmare after feeding. But it's the way Edward touches Isabella that intrigues and amazes me the most. And it's how she reacts to him which disarms me to the point I can't understand what I'm seeing.

"You can help," Edward says as he eases Isabella into the water so that she sitting in front of him.

Already there's steam rising from the water, but I somehow know it's not from being so close to the fireplace. I know it's something the girl has done. I'm drawn to Edward's side as he begins cleaning Isabella's skin, keeping a hand in hers and leaning her back to wet her hair and her face.

From the vantage point, I have a better view of her tiny body. She doesn't look malnourished as one would expect from a girl her size and the fact that we found her in an abandoned house. Her skin is pale, but it's also soft and supple. The slope of her shoulders beckons my fingers to her, and upon touching her skin, I'm burned badly enough to feel it all the way to my bones.

"Carefully," Edward soothes, turning Isabella to face me and extending her hand to mine. "I figured it out. As long as we're touching her in a protective manner, she can't burn us." Then he looks at Isabella. "It's all right. He won't hurt you."

She lifts her eyes to mine, scooting closer to me and taking my hand in hers. The burning immediately stops, replaced by the soothing sensation of a healing salve unlike any I've ever felt. Her warmth actually spreads through my hand and into my arm, and I'm even more intrigued than I was before touching her the first time.

"Jasper," my mate beckons, and I look at him. "You should use the water to clean them." He nods to the man and woman. "Once Isabella is clean, I'll feed, and we'll rest. We might be here for a little while. At least through the night."

I don't want to let go of Isabella's hand, but I know he's right in his assessment.

Reluctantly, I release her and find a cloth Edward brought to use before I scoot back to begin my task.

It's easy to do two things at once as soon as I've ascertained how much water our company will need to be bathed, and the moment I begin to clean the woman, I look behind me to see Edward bathing Isabella.

At first, he stands her in the water, using a soft cloth from the kitchen to wash her legs and feet. His hands linger around her bottom and the dark hair between her legs, but only long enough to make sure she's clean. She kneels into the tub of water once he's finished, facing him and lifting her arms above her head while he rubs the cloth over her stomach and then her chest. Her tiny pink nipples are taut the entire time, but Edward isn't tempted by her once. His emotions remain pure and innocent.

The woman in front of me is another matter altogether. The water I'm using to clean her is having a curious effect on her as I also use a soft cloth to clean her. Her emotions are filled with sensations of lust and greed. I've noticed a few scars that cover her body in the strangest places, but no more than any other human I've fed from. Edward's body had been virtually immaculate when I found him.

Edward is washing Isabella's hair now, rubbing soap into her scalp and massaging in scented oil from the kitchen that smells vaguely of honeysuckle and freesias. I wonder where he found this oil, but more than that, how does he know to use it on her?

"She's our responsibility now," he says, helping her to her feet and wrapping a clean sheet around her body. "She has no one to look after her, and . . . she needs us, Jasper."

I watch him lift her in his arms to carry her to the couch, and she lays down to get comfortable as Edward makes his way to where I'm moving from the woman who's now clean to the man who's still soiled in his own bodily fluids.

"For every one we find who smells like this," Edward says, kneeling beside me to help, "we find two or three who smell like her." He nods to Isabella as she now watches us from the couch still wrapped in her sheet.

Before turning the man to his back to begin, I pause and frown. "I don't mean to be jealous," I begin, to which Edward also pauses and looks at me, "and I know you obviously know more about her than I possibly could. But you've only just met her. How — "

He lifts his finger to my lips, stopping me. "I just do. And you'll know it in time too. You need to feed. We'll all leave here when it's safe, but until then, don't worry. Please." He cups my cheek and leans in to kiss me again. His emotions are focused on me and feeding, and it's in this moment I leave the thoughts I have for Isabella behind to complete this task.

"Where did you find these two?" Edward asks, leaning over the woman and smelling her skin. "She smells like grass and . . . spirits."

I rubbed my cloth over the man's chest. "Their home wasn't exactly high society," I say with a smile. "But it was easier to sedate them than it was to invade their dwelling without permission. They'll do for the night."

"Do you want her, or shall I have them both?" His smile is devious.

I grin as his emotions gravitate toward the same lust I felt coming from the men when they took the woman for their own pleasure. "The man will have more blood for you. I've already had enough. Do what you will with her, and I'll get him ready for you."

Edward scoots over to straddle the woman's body, using his ability to read and manipulate her mind to wake her without alerting her to his true intentions. It's difficult to complete my task while watching him engage her, and when he glances at me just for a moment, I instantly understand, spreading a hazy cloud of lust over her and the man in my hands. She responds to Edward's coaxing easily, just as most of his prey usually does, and though she leans up to kiss him, he lowers his mouth over her neck to the taut muscle along her shoulder.

He's whispering to her, telling her she's safe and that he won't hurt her. They change positions so that she's straddling him, and with her hands now roaming his body, I can't stop the swell of jealousy that fills my gut. I have to remind myself that he's only soothing her so he can feed from her. It's like this every time I see it, but it's not as bad now as it used to be. She kisses his neck and shoulders, unbuttoning his pants and slipping her hand inside just as a soft groan leaves Edward's lips.

His senses are heightened the longer he sits there with her, taking his time and moving her long blond hair from her shoulder to show her neck to me where he plans on biting her. Her heart is pounding, pumping blood to every centimeter of her body as the scent of her arousal fills the air around us. This actually isn't the first time it's happened like this, and I can still remember how long it's been since he touched one of his victims this way.

It also doesn't appear to bother him that she's as normal as the man I've just finished cleaning.

Together, Edward and the woman in his arms remove his pants, and he's sitting there naked with her when she wraps her hand around his already erect shaft. I've touched him this way several times when it's just the two of us and we don't have to feed for several days. I'll admit I don't usually appreciate anyone else seeing this side of him, but I've become accustomed to it over the years. Edward likes to play with his female victims because it keeps his mind reading and manipulating skills sharper than when he feeds on men. And he only ever wants to be with me — so the men all die while he's feeding on them, not after he has sex with them like the women.

A soft moan escapes the woman's mouth, and she wraps her arms around him as their movements become less fluid and more hurried. I can see Edward touching her and stroking her, and she rocks her hips to his touch until I can see her lower herself onto his hard length. Edward groans again, moving with her and gently thrusting into her. The very sight of it has me aroused to the point that I'm tempted to abandon my task to join him. But I don't. I know feeding is more important for him right now.

Later, I know he'll be all mine.

The moment his teeth puncture her skin, she moans louder, clawing at his shoulders and reaching her own climax as he releases inside her. She's overcome with unconsciousness as her orgasm subsides, and Edward lays her down over the sheet still drinking until I feel the last drop of hot blood leave her body and fill his all the way to his fingertips.

He disengages from her slowly, and her heart stops before her body begins to cool. Already, her lips are discolored, and her skin has lost its shade of pink. I glance in Isabella's direction, discovering her on her back with her naked body exposed to the room as her fingers stroke her own center.

It's in this moment that I realize the connection between her and Edward is very different from the one he has with me.

* * *

_**Little tidbit about Bella? In case you missed it, Psychic link. Edward and Jasper are still mates, but they'll both have unique connections to Bella that will be revealed over time.**_

_**Next chapter shouldn't be too far off, but a comment or two will definitely let me know I'm on the right track.  
**_

_**Thanks for reading! See you next time!  
**_


	3. The Connection

_**Still not a lot of people putting in their two cents, but the few people who've responded are liking it. So here we go with Chapter Three.  
**_

_**We again get a little more insight into Edward and Jasper this time, along with Bella. I know it's a lot to take in, but just give it a shot, okay?  
**_

_**There's a little sexy scene coming up that I hope you like, but no real violence or bad language.  
**_

_**I don't own Twilight, but my iPhone has songs from the soundtracks on it.  
**_

_**This is all un-beta'd, so any mistakes you see are mine.  
**_

* * *

_**The Connection**_

"Jasper, it's all right," Edward says, less than a minute after rolling the woman's body away. He wipes his mouth and kneels in front of me. "You know how I feel for you. You're my mate, but she — She needs me. _Us._ I saw in her mind how scared and lonely she's been. We can make all of that go away. She can be happy with us."

"I don't understand how," I reply, shaking my head.

He cups my face in his hands, leaning over the body between us and kissing me with the woman's blood still on his tongue. "It's all right," he whispers to me. "You might not be able to read her mind, but you can sense her emotions. There's so much more than what's on the surface. I'll do this." He removes my hands from the man and nudges me away. "Go to her. You'll sense it. I know you will."

Confused, I rise away from him and slowly approach Isabella as she lays on the couch still in the midst of her own pleasure. I look at Edward, seeing him lean over the man and bite him without so much as a pause. The man never wakes up. Turning my eyes to Isabella, I gaze at her curiously. What has Edward seen in her to elicit such a reaction?

She doesn't look the least bit scared of me as I kneel onto the couch above her and press my hands to the cushion under her head. What do I do?

Her emotions are much more simplified now than they were not so long ago when we found her, and she gazes up at me in her own innocent wonder. This is when I see the knowledge in her warm brown eyes that shouldn't be there. It's in this moment that I sense a wiseness about her she shouldn't possess.

"I won't hurt you," I say again, sitting back on my calves and pulling her with me to sit her over my thighs. Her skin is still warm, almost hot, but she doesn't burn me. She's so soft, and she feels so good in my arms. No other woman has ever felt this way, and I'm worried. Is this what she's done to Edward?

I look up into her eyes, feeling her simple emotions of happy contentment become more complex as intrigue and curiosity replace her hesitance and anxiety — much like they did before I left.

It seems the longer she's in my presence, the more she trusts me.

"That isn't all," Edward says from the floor where he's now laying after feeding on the man's blood. "Keep going deeper. I promise it's there."

Though I'm still reluctant, I do as he says, wanting to feel more than her baser emotions. It's interesting that I don't feel hatred or resentment anywhere inside her for any reason. There's a sadness filling her heart that makes my own heart ache for her, and I remember what Edward said about how she killed her own parents by burning them. Now I know it must have been an accident.

She feels guilty for hurting them, and she's been isolating herself from the people around her in an effort to keep from hurting anyone else.

It all makes perfect sense now.

Neither Edward nor I have been permanently harmed by her fire. This is how he believes we can help her, but I sense something else that seems impossible.

Her body looks seventeen, and her emotions are stilted and hazy. But her blood smells older from any I've ever smelled in a human, and it's this curiosity that makes me believe she must be more than seventeen and simply not know it. She says it's been a long time since her parents died. How long?

"That is a question we might never answer," Edward says. "But she's ours now. And no one else can have her. She won't let them now."

That's when I know.

In her mind, she's claimed us just as easily as Edward has connected to her. Just as easily as I can feel myself connecting with her. It feels different from when I found him.

Very different.

"Do you understand now?" Edward asks.

My eyes never leave hers, and she lifts her fingers to my cheek. My hand follows instantly, holding hers to my skin.

"I do," I say.

The crackling of the fire is the only sound that fills the air as we each remain in our respective spots, and as the encroaching stench of dead flesh begins to overpower the room, I remember that we must dispose of the bodies before any animals find their way to our hiding place.

Leaving Isabella's side is harder than it should be, but it is more necessary than any other task I have endeavored in my existence. Edward uses the water to clean his body while I carry our victims out of the house to get rid of the bodies he fed on. It's cold but not unusually so, and it takes only a few minutes to find everything I need to make a pyre. Using sheets from the house, I wrap both bodies tightly and then lay them over the piles I've made. Kindling from the house and matches complete my supplies, and I watch as the bodies begin burning.

I'm gone probably half an hour, having run far enough away from the house to prevent anyone passing by from connecting this scene to the house nearby. With any luck, we'll be gone before the smoke stops smoldering.

Edward and Isabella are both sleeping when I return, nestled together on the couch and both still naked as the fireplace works to dry and warm their skin. I somehow know the only thing that's happened in my absence is the innocent procession of Edward's protective nature showing itself yet again. Without me, his instincts have overpowered him to this compulsion. I'm still a little jealous, but I can't allow this emotion to persist. I know if it hadn't been Edward holding her as she slept, it would be me.

I settle into an armchair across from them with the fire still blazing, and I watch them sleep as the content gentleness coming off Edward persists to a level I've never felt in him before now. The warmth from the fire and the heat coming from Isabella has filled the room completely, but it's not uncomfortable the way it should be. In fact, I can't remember a time when it ever felt this amazing. My eyes naturally begin to droop, and I find myself falling asleep from feeding, running and the safest feeling I've ever had in my life.

No concept of time fills me when the fingertips touch my cheek, and when I open my eyes, I see Edward in front of me naked and smiling. He kneels in front of me, his head level with mine as he leans in and nudges the inside of my nose with the tip of his. Our lips touch gently, lightly, only enough to further awaken my mind while my body is already well aware of his proximity. His wet tongue slips over his bottom lip, and mine naturally follows several times until his lips are closing around mine and his tongue is sliding along mine. My hands find his face, and he smiles again before lowering his hands to my waist.

The first time we touched like this, it felt like the most natural thing I'd ever done, and I hadn't understood why until the first time I almost lost him. I'd had no real sense of the law when I made him. I only knew I couldn't lose him. It was this devotion that saved him, and I swore never to make another vampire without first making sure the law was upheld. As a man who'd been made without knowledge of his future, I'd been given a sort of pardon for making Edward. And it was in front of the leaders of the Vampire World that I claimed Edward as mine.

From that moment on, and especially in moments like this, I'm reminded of his naive nature. He simply loves to touch me, and I have to admit that I love it as well.

Aro, Caius, and Marcus were intrigued by our connection, and they all wanted to see it for themselves. I was protective enough to beg for as minimal an audience as possible, and only the three Leaders watched us that night. Edward wasn't scared at all, and it was his calmness and love that allowed me to stay relaxed.

"You need to relax now," he whispers, still knelt in front of me and gently unfastening my pants. "We'll protect her from them. I promise."

I caress his cheek lightly. "I didn't need my power that night," I say with a little smile. "But you had to rely on me to tell you everything would be all right when Caius interrupted our kiss."

A playful grin crosses Edward's face, and he leans over to kiss the middle of my abdomen. "I didn't like the way he looked at you. And I didn't understand what was happening until I realized it was happening to you as well. What he did was cruel. I didn't like it at all."

He doesn't have to say what he's thinking, and even though I can't read his thoughts, I feel the same way.

I thread my fingers through his soft hair and rub his forehead. "We'll protect her," I say, mirroring him easily.

He kisses my skin again, his tongue snaking out to lick the spot in front of his lips as he takes the waist of my pants and pulls them down to disrobe me completely.

With my shirt already gone, I'm naked in seconds, grinning at him as he lays little kisses up the inside of my thighs. My body is already reacting to his scent, and the moment his lips make contact with my hardening shaft, a tiny amount of air catches in my throat. His tongue quickly follows, and the skill he shows while doing this never fails to amaze me and remind me of the first time he did it.

The Leaders had never seen anything like us, and it intrigued them that Edward was able to please me this way. They were even more intrigued — and stunned — when Edward and I copulated in their presence. It was something they'd neither expected or understood. They simply couldn't understand that when we were together, the world disappeared.

"Do I have to make you think you're back in that old cottage where we were together the first time?" he warns.

To draw me out of my deeper thoughts, he licks the underside of my shaft languidly, spreading a small fire through my body as my pulse quickens instantly. His perfect lips kiss my hardness, and I unconsciously bite my lip.

"You do that so well," I whisper, moaning.

He doesn't speak, still licking and kissing and lowering his mouth over me. This heat in my belly feels different from what I felt earlier when Isabella touched me, but I soon forget about her. I focus only on the beautiful boy knelt in front of me.

I love when he does this — when he gives me all of his attention no matter what else has transpired to take his time away from me. It isn't just that he kisses me and touches me so gently that I nearly forget how strong he is, and it isn't just that he sometimes manipulates my mind to put me at ease so I can focus on him when he wants my attention. It's just so simple with him. He's all I've needed since I found him.

His strokes speed up until I can feel his hands holding my body to him, and I don't know how to restrain him. The very tip of my shaft slips into his throat, and the new blood inside me is pumping so fast. Heat has spread to the rest of my extremities, and it's only by sheer force of will that we haven't broken the chair in which I'm sitting. His soft hair fills my fists, but I try to remain gentle until the pressure is too much for me to contain.

Edward holds me still as my release sends a set of tremors through my body, kissing my thigh and laying his head down as I continue to come down.

"I love you, Jasper," he whispers.

I'm calm enough to stroke his hair, and he shakes with chills before I speak. "As I love you, beautiful boy."

It's quiet as we sit there with the warmth of the fire bathing us in its light and heat, and Edward rises after a few more minutes, pulling me to my feet and laying in the floor with me close. I give in to his pull easily, allowing him to lay his strong body next to mine, and the sleep settles over us both before too much more time can pass.

Several hours have passed when I open my eyes again, but that isn't what startles me. The light from outside is dim at best, signaling dawn is near, but what startles me is that I am alone with Isabella as she still slumbers from her spot on the couch.

Edward is gone.

I don't bother with my clothes, rising from the floor and moving through the house to make sure he isn't simply in another room. The only feelings I know are those of Isabella's, and my anxiety has the potential to wake her if I don't find him before she reacts to the way I'm feeling in Edward's absence.

The rationality of my feelings means nothing to me, and it isn't until I feel the smallest bit of confidence and accomplishment coming from the outside of the house that I step onto the front porch to hear the sure footsteps of my mate coming closer to the house. I know it's him. I can smell him now.

But why did he leave without telling me?

He comes into my view before the happy look on his face fades a little when he sees me there naked. The distance between us closes instantly, and he stops just short of the porch when I notice the clothes he's carrying.

"Is something wrong?" he asks frantically.

"I woke, and you were gone."

A soft sigh passes his lips, and he ascends the steps slowly. "I was hoping to be back before you woke," he says. "There's a town several miles down the road where I found clothes for Isabella, and she can get food and rest."

I can't move from where I've stopped as he explains this to me. Of course we would need clothes for her. But I'm still trying to understand why he left me alone with her. What if someone had found us?

His smile fades completely. "I thought we were safe here."

It takes a moment after he says this for me to relax. "We are," I say. "I'm sorry for thinking that. It just startled me to find you gone when I woke. That was silly of me. Of course she needs clothes. Food and rest as well. Forgive me."

I step aside for him to enter the house, glancing around and seeing that the dense cloud cover has persisted through the morning. It should be safe for us to travel to this town before we must make new arrangements for Isabella.

"I was thinking that as well," Edward says as we step into the living room where Isabella is still sleeping. "It's been too long since we were able to mingle with people. It should give us time to get money and supplies. This could be home, Jasper. A real home."

His revelation stuns me, but I'm unable to vocalize it while he proceeds to awaken our charge.

The only home we've ever really had is each other. He's never said anything about wanting to have a more permanent place to stay, though it makes sense. We've been roaming for three hundred years.

Perhaps it is time for us to settle down.

* * *

_**Settle down? Really? Is it possible?**_

_**What do you think Jasper feels for Bella? It's clear that Edward is not only very protective of her, but also very aware of her presence in their lives now.  
**_

_**Thanks for reading, and I hope more of you tell me what you're thinking about our Trio here.  
**_

_**Next chapter should be up in a week. Later!  
**_


	4. A Real Home of Our Own

_**Good morning! Here we are with a new chapter, and I hope you're all ready for a few surprises. Thanks to everyone who's been reading, reviewing and putting this on your alerts and favorites.  
**_

_**We learn a little bit more about Bella in this chapter, and yes, there are a couple of surprises I don't know if you're thinking will happen.  
**_

_**And don't worry. The dynamic of this trio is just beginning to gel. We've got a long way to go before anything's settled.  
**_

_**I don't own Twilight, but I sure do like to mess with her characters. And all the info on Forks here is the best I could find for a town that wasn't founded until 1945.  
**_

_**This is all unbeta'd, so any mistakes you see are mine.  
**_

* * *

_**A Real Home of Our Own**_

Once Edward has Isabella clothed in a dress he found for her — and I've changed as well — we leave the confines of our sanctuary to journey to this town he says is so close. I have a strange feeling that we'll be back as soon as we have everything we'll need to be safe for a little while. He's more comfortable with walking during the day than he really should be, and I know it's the dense cloud cover allowing his comfort level to remain high. When he takes Isabella's hand in his, I know this has helped as well.

"Come on, Jasper," she says, extending her other hand to me and beckoning me forward.

It's not difficult to follow her pull, scooting up to her side and allowing her to take my hand. I glance over her head at Edward, and he smiles differently than I've ever seen. He's genuinely happy that I've accepted Isabella presence with us, and this makes me happy in turn.

"Forgive me," I plead softly. "I'm just used to having you to myself."

"It's all right," he nods. "It's an adjustment for us all."

None of us talk after this, walking along the unpaved road and following the apparent map inside Edward's head for probably two or three miles before a horse-drawn carriage passes us. The driver offers us a ride to the nearest town, and though we would usually be reluctant because of the interaction it would require with the driver, Edward accepts his generosity only a moment before helping Isabella into the seat next him. I join him after he's settled, and the driver simply nods and whips the horse to continue down the road.

The ride is bumpy and would probably be nauseating to a normal human, but neither Edward nor I find any discomfort as we move along the road quietly. A river moves along the east side of the road, and the air is heavy with rain. It's possible we'll have to spend the day in town if it begins before we get our supplies, but this thought doesn't seem to worry Edward as he holds Isabella close to him to keep her from the driver. I've noticed the poor man has already glanced at her a few times in a not-so-friendly way. Then I realize how territorial Edward has become.

He looks at me as we sit together, almost silently asking me, _Wouldn't you be?_

The carriage ride takes probably twenty or thirty minutes since the man is moving along slower with his passengers than he could move alone, and by the time we reach the small settlement, Isabella's curiosity has gotten the better of her.

"What is this place called?" she asks the driver.

He looks at me and Edward, finding his words carefully. "Well, little lady, this little place here is what most of the townspeople call Forks. We're settled between four rivers that flow into the ocean out there, and you can call this a fork in the river flows."

His answer satisfies her, and he moves through the dirt path at the center of the settlement to find a place to put his carriage.

Of all the places I've been in the last three hundred years, this one is the smallest and least civilized. In Europe, nearly every town has paved roads and brick buildings. Even though it's the turn of the century, and these places out here have electricity, there's still a rural feel to the location. From where I'm standing, I can see every major business a little place like this would need. There's a bank, a post office, a grocery store and a boarding building for travelers like Edward and I to settle for either a day or a month.

Edward already seems to know where we need to go first, moving from the carriage with Isabella to the bank, and I follow him without thinking of the people surrounding us and now looking at us.

We get money from the bank once Edward and I have assured the man there that we're not there to cause any trouble, and with that money, Edward walks to the hardware store where he says we can buy supplies to clean up the house where we stayed last night.

"You should take Isabella to eat," he says as he collects everything we need. "I'll find us a means to carry all of it back to the house and meet you once I've finished."

I feel like arguing with him, but I know he'll be safe so I leave him to his business so I can tend to our charge. She's reluctant to leave him as well, but she doesn't deny my pull as we leave the hardware store. It isn't difficult to find a place to eat. There's a tavern attached to the boarding house, and it's in this small setting where I know we'll find food for Isabella.

A girl who doesn't look much older than Isabella is standing behind the counter at the front of the tavern, and she's flirting with a man twice her age with her breasts almost coming out of her dress. Her hair is brown like Isabella's but not as long, and her eyes are brown but not as innocent. Then she sees me, and her attention toward the man deviates immediately.

"Well, hello there," she says with a wide smile that shows her crooked teeth. "Welcome to Forks. I'm Jessica. How can I help you today?"

Unfazed by her obvious attraction, I help Isabella into a chair next to me. I look around for a menu of food that would be served, but upon discovering there isn't one available, I look at Jessica.

"Well, for starters, she needs a hot meal, so that would be appreciated."

She laughs nervously. "Well, of course."

Her flirtations with me cease after she realizes that I'm not eating or drinking, and her service is almost non-existent after she delivers a steaming plate of food to Isabella for consumption.

Despite not looking malnourished, Isabella almost devours the food on her plate which is a combination of fish, vegetables that must be local because I've never seen them, and bread which she uses to soak up every last drop of liquid on the plate. She's not embarrassed about the way she eats, and I don't make a point of slowing her down once she's begun. It's obviously been a long time since she ate anything substantial.

She asks for more when she finishes the first plate, and the bar maid puts another order in with the cook before disappearing again.

"I suppose it should've been obvious to me that you hadn't eaten in a while," I say to Isabella as we wait.

She finishes the water in her cup and covers her mouth for a few seconds before speaking softly. "I can't remember the last time I ate anything warm. I've been so afraid that I would hurt someone that I — "

"It's all right," I say to her. "It won't be like that anymore. You have my word."

The smile on her face widens, and when the second plate of food is set down in front of her, she eats more slowly.

Now that she's had a bath and rest and is wearing a proper dress, I'm able to see more of her delicate features. Her entire body is so small even though she's not weak from not eating. The small span of her shoulders draws my hand to it, and before I realize what I'm doing, the palm of my hand rubs the back of her neck. Her back is stock straight, and her waist is tiny without being so small that I could feel her bones. Contentment and satisfaction of a full stomach allow her to relax beneath my touch, and once she's finished her meal, I leave money for the bar maid so we can leave the tavern before anyone else notices us.

"Jasper," she says as we step outside. Without aim, we begin walking along the sidewalk. "How do you not eat food like I do?"

I remember what Edward said the night before, but it's clear she's still curious about us. "Well, it's because I don't need it anymore."

She lifts her hands to my arm. "Not even something to drink?"

"Oh, I drink," I nod. "Just not what you drink. What I drink gives me the . . . nourishment I need to survive."

"I've never seen anyone like you or Edward before," she says. "I haven't been around people in so long. Will we stay here forever?"

I smile and laugh softly. "We'll stay here as long as it's safe. And that will hopefully be a very long time."

She squeezes my arm and lays her head on my shoulder. "Good. I like it here now."

We both get quiet as we walk, and I'm content just to keep walking until we have to back to Edward. Isabella seems to like this as well, allowing me to put my arm around her shoulders and hold her close despite all the eyes I can feel on us now.

There's a floral shop not far from the tavern, and I step in to find something for Isabella that seems fitting for a girl as beautiful as her. My sense of smell is quite different from hers, and while I'm able to sense the smaller differences as well as the more obvious variations between the variety of flowers available, Isabella is partial to white calla lilies, so I buy half a dozen of those for her before we continue exploring the small settlement.

"Mama loved these," she says as we walk. "And Papa brought flowers home to her often."

"What do you remember about them?" I ask quietly.

The smile on her face fades a little. "It's been so long since I saw their faces. I can barely remember them. But I remember things that were constant — like flowers. The color of Papa's eyes. How much he loved Mama and me. Whenever he would bring home enough food to feed us for a month. I miss them so much."

Her sorrow overwhelms her so quickly that I'm unable to find a place to sit down quickly enough before she begins to cry softly. A bench offers us both adequate stability for me to comfort her. All her happiness is gone now as she remembers her mother and father. I don't know what else to do but sit with her, and that's all we do for several minutes as she clutches the flowers to her chest.

"We weren't well-off like everyone else," she says after her tears subside. "Papa helped with the local Sheriff's office, but it didn't pay very well. Mama loved working in our garden. She taught me to help her. We were finishing up when they came."

Her words startle me, and I lean closer to hear her better. "Who, Isabella?" I ask. "Who came?"

She shakes her head. "I don't remember. People who wanted to hurt us. I got so scared so fast. Mama sent me to the cellar so I'd be safe. I heard her scream. They found me and took me into the house. Papa was there, but he was hurt too. They said he had to help them, or they would kill us all. The house was on fire before I realized that I was the one doing it. I don't know how I made it out alive. But they were all dead. So I ran."

New tears fall from her eyes, and an instinct I didn't know I still possessed prompts me to pull her closer to me to comfort her. She cries again, the flowers forgotten as she clutches me against her. Her little body is so warm, and it warms me as we sit there. The story she's just told me is so sad, but I need to know more — like how long it's been since then. But I don't want to upset her. So all I do is sit there and hold her. After a minute, I whisper to her.

"Don't be afraid, Isabella. You're safe. Edward and I will protect you. We won't let anyone hurt you. You have my word."

"Papa always said, _I swear._ But he lied. It was because of him those people hurt him."

I lean back to look at her, caressing her cheek gently. "I won't ever lie to you, Isabella. No one is going to hurt you."

"Do you promise?" she asks, so quietly only I hear her.

I nod and smile, and after a few seconds, I pull her closer. "I promise."

We sit silently for probably a minute before she speaks again. "Mama and Papa always called me Bella. Mama said it meant beautiful."

I laugh softly and hold her a little closer. "Well, you are certainly very beautiful. Come on then," I say leaning back and pulling her to her feet with her flowers in her arms. "Let's find Edward. Surely, he hasn't bought out the entire hardware store by now."

She laughs for the first time since I heard her the day before, and it's a joyful sound if there ever was one.

We catch up to Edward just as he's purchasing a carriage to hold all his new purchases for the house, and I can already see a horse in front of it. He looks up to see us coming closer, and a smile spreads across his face instantly. The love and happiness he feels upon seeing us spreads through me instantly, and I laugh again upon reaching his side.

"I see you're coming along much better than I expected," I say. "What all have you bought?"

"Everything," he exclaims. "The gentleman in the store was very helpful. We should be able to fix nearly everything in the house with all of this. Did you find out anything at the tavern?"

I suddenly remember that I was supposed to find out about a room for the day so Bella can sleep a little more than she did the night before, and after watching her eat and then walking with her through town, I've completely forgotten.

Edward smiles again after listening to the succession of thoughts in my head. "It's all right," he says. "As soon as I purchase the carriage, we should just be able to go back to the house. But we'll need clothes for her. Surely, you can help her do that while I finish this."

It's easy to oblige him, as it usually is, and I take Bella's hand again to walk across the dirt road toward the dress shop. We walk by the town jail and a doctor's office before making it to the dress shop, and Bella becomes a little apprehensive. She stops before we can step inside, and at first, I don't know what's wrong. Maybe this is triggering another memory of her mother. I turn to her immediately, trying to soothe her.

"It's all right, Bella. You don't have to be afraid. I'll be beside you the entire time. I promise."

This seems to help, and we walk into the shop without another moment passing. But as soon as I step inside, I know this was a mistake.

Even from the door, I can smell it.

Vampire.

I grasp onto Bella's hand to leave, and we're almost outside when the shopkeeper calls out to us.

"Good morning, can we help you with anything?"

Her voice sounds so familiar, and I stop to turn around, faced with someone I never thought I would ever see again.

"Alice?"

The smile on her face changes instantly to a frown, but it's not because she's afraid or worried. She recognizes me too. "Jasper?"

Of course, she looks exactly the same, except she looks much happier and fancier in her new dress. Her long jet black locks are still glossy in the unfortunately dim light of the shop, and her dark brown eyes are still shimmering. She's still very short and very exuberant. I can't believe I almost forgot that. The last time I saw her was not long before I found Edward.

"What are you doing here?" she asks.

I glance at Bella, still holding her hand as she hides behind me. "Edward and I were in the area," I say. "And we found her. She's an orphan, and we're going to take care of her."

She steps closer to us slowly, almost sensing Bella's fear. "Oh, poor dear," she says gently. Then she looks at me again. "Take care of her? She's human, Jasper. The law."

"We know the law," I say defensively. "But she needs us."

Alice takes another tentative step toward Bella. "It's all right, little one. I'm not going to hurt you. I think you're the one I saw coming. I just didn't know you were going to be with Jasper."

Bella's fear and apprehension dissipate slightly, and she steps out from behind me to be closer to Alice.

"Oh, goodness, you're just so adorable!" Alice cries. "You'll need so much. But don't worry, dear. We'll help you. Rosalie! We have customers."

A familiar golden head appears over the shelves at the back of the shop, and in an instant, she's less then three meters away from me. She's taller than I remember, but her smile is still the same.

"They had better be well-paying customers," she says, lifting her eyes and seeing me for the first time in three hundred years. Then she sees Bella. "Well, I never thought I'd see you again."

I stand up straight, still holding Bella's hand. "It's good to see you too."

The glimmer in her deep blue eyes is easy to spot as she moves closer slowly. "So you're finally settling down, I see," she says while looking over Bella intently.

A sliver of fear creeps back up through Bella's body, and she tries to hide again.

"Stop that, Rose," Alice says. "You're frightening her! We need to find clothes for her. Go get Esme."

Rosalie smirks and leaves instantly. Alice turns back to me and Bella.

"Don't worry about her, little one," she says softly. "We won't hurt you. You're too special for us to harm. And I'm sure your suitor here knows that."

Her remark threatens to make me blush, especially since I've yet to completely bond with Bella.

"He won't believe you're here," Alice says. "Of course, now he probably already knows. You look so much better than I thought you would. Your companion, Edward," she pauses, and I nod, confirming her suspicion, "has had quite the effect on you. I can't wait to meet him."

The shop door opens again with the ring of a bell I didn't even hear before, and I turn around instinctively after having come into contact with two other vampires.

His eyes penetrate me instantly as he tries to see me for the first time in three centuries. Their brilliant blue color hasn't changed at all, and his smooth face shows none of the time that's passed since we parted.

"Jasper," he says.

My hold on Bella's hand tightens again. "Carlisle."

* * *

_**Ooh, were we expecting that? What's going to happen now? If you've been paying attention, you should already know who Carlisle is. He's the vampire who taught Jasper - his teacher, remember from previous chapters.**_

_**And what about Emmett? Is he around too?  
**_

_**It's like the whole gang is here!  
**_

_**Anyway, tell me what you think of Jasper and Bella bonding while Edward was off buying out the hardware store? Think you know what's gonna happen to them next?  
**_

_**Next chapter should be up in a week or so! Later!  
**_


	5. Carlisle Cullen

_**I know, it's late, but I promise I've been working on it. But before the site is going through some changes, I don't know yet if it will all be in vain. So I'm going to be moving this and my other Mature Twilight stories to a new home.  
**_

_**I think I'm just going to put a statement in my profile.  
**_

_**Moving on to this story, it's moving along. We learn a little more about the vampire world and Jasper's history here. I hope everyone likes reading it.  
**_

_**I don't own Twilight, but I do like to rewrite history as I know it. So there.  
**_

_**This is also un-beta'd, so any mistakes you see are all mine.  
**_

* * *

_**Carlisle Cullen**_

"You haven't changed at all," he says moving closer with a measure of restraint in his smooth gait, "and yet, you have. How long has it been?"

My memories of him are just as prominent for me as I'm sure his of me are for him. "Nearly three hundred years. I never thought I would see you again."

His eyes settle on Bella as she again hides behind me, and he watches her intently as he speaks again. "It was safer for us here," he tells me. "After you left, Aro began to come down harsher on criminals who changed humans without permission. I had to swear to him that I wouldn't disobey his laws the way your maker obviously did." He steps closer until I know he can see that I'm extremely protective of the girl now grasping onto my shirt with her face hidden from him. "I never thought I would see you take a mate, much less a young woman like this."

My instincts are overpowering my actions, and I'm clenching my teeth before I realize it. "Please, back away from us."

Either the tone of my voice or the fact that I've now transformed Bella and I into a unit causes him to grin slightly and take a step back. Alice moves to his side and wraps her hands around his arm.

"Isn't she adorable?" she smiles and then sighs softly.

Carlisle doesn't answer her, still addressing me. "I'm surprised at you, Jasper. Who is this you have with you?" he asks, still attempting to look at Bella.

"She's not my mate," I inform him. "But she is my responsibility. Her name is Bella, and I would appreciate it if you would give her a little more space."

Alice tugs on Carlisle's arm. "You're frightening her," she whisper-hisses to him. "She's the one I told you about from my vision. The fire is within her."

This admittance is what allows me to understand the significance of what Edward and I have found. Based on everything Carlisle told me when he found me not long after my own transformation, every vampire develops a special ability. The way he described it was that the blood of a vampire was a thousand times stronger than that of a human, and once bitten, a human's body would immediately change to accommodate it. It affected every bone, every blood vessel, even the brain.

Sometimes, it would take days or weeks or even months for the ability to appear, but once it did, it began to grow to immeasurable heights. There are vampires in our world who are so strong in their abilities, it can render other vampires powerless. Edward and I know this first hand after our experience with Caius. But it's unheard of for a human to have an ability so extensive to cause a disturbance in our world. I can't even think of a time when I was with Carlisle that he'd ever heard of it either.

Now, we've both found Bella. And her ability is amazing. What does this mean for us?

"You're worried for no reason," Carlisle says, having been within my presence long enough to mimic my own ability again and read my emotions. "You're all going to be safe here. But there have been others in the area. It will be difficult to keep her hidden for very long."

His attention moves away from me and Bella, and within seconds, I know why as I can feel Edward coming from his dealings with the storekeeper inside the hardware store across the street. I don't have any other way to prepare him for this except to think of what's just happened in a continuous loop until I know he can see me thinking of it.

Carlisle glances at me but doesn't say anything as the door to the dress shop opens slowly, indicating that what I did has worked and Edward is being cautious of the situation in front of him. The bell above the door chimes just once as he steps inside the shop and up the steps to where we're all standing.

Because I've warned him, he's calmer than he probably would be otherwise, and it's easy for me to shift Bella from behind me so he can hold her against him while I remain in front of her. The recognition in Carlisle's eyes is almost immediate when he witnesses this, and with the help of Edward's mind-reading, he's able to understand what has happened in the last several hours.

"I see," he nods. "Of course. It's good that you were able to discover on your own what I could not teach you. And he's extremely gifted."

I haven't relaxed at all, and though she doesn't have my ability, Alice can sense this as she stands at Carlisle's side. She steps in quickly, attempting to diffuse the tension.

"You're both going to terrify her," she exclaims. "Jasper, you know Carlisle won't harm her. He can't. And you all need to calm down. You're all losing focus on what's important."

With that, she pushes me and Carlisle apart, nudging me aside to face Edward as he naturally shies away from her.

"You're so much more handsome than I imagined you would be," she says gently. "I'm Alice. I knew Jasper a very long time ago. You must be Edward."

His apprehension fades a little as he glances at me, and I nod that it's all right. Of all the vampires I've met, Alice is the most harmless. She's kind and compassionate. In another life, we would've been mates, but it wasn't meant to be.

"I wouldn't necessarily say that," Carlisle comments on my thoughts.

Edward and I look at him simultaneously, and he smiles.

"Forgive me. This happens each and every time I try a new ability. Just ask Emmett."

To this, Alice laughs softly. "It took us nearly a week to find you," she teases, playfully slapping his arm.

There's more than a sire bond between them as I observe them, but I'm unable to comment on it as we're rejoined by Rosalie and the soft face of a woman I have always regretted leaving all those years ago.

The smile on her face tells me that she's missed me as well.

"Jasper," she exhales, rushing to me without any regard to the others around us. "I can't believe it's really you."

Her long caramel hair shimmers in the light of the shop, and her loving brown eyes appraise me instantly as she hurries to where I'm standing. She envelops me with her warmth instantly, making me aware that she's fed recently just as Edward and I have. I glance at Edward and then Carlisle before speaking softly.

"I've missed you too, Esme."

"What are you doing here?" she asks, leaning back to look at me.

It takes a great amount of effort to step away from her and regain my bearings in front of Edward and Bella. "We were in the area," I say with another glance in his direction. "Esme, this is Edward. My mate."

She realizes my meaning instantly, stepping even further away to be beside Carlisle and Alice. "Of course. I can see now. And this young lady is — "

"Ours," Edward claims, holding Bella closer to him. "We'll take care of her. We don't need any of you to help us."

Carlisle takes his place in front of Alice, Esme and Rosalie, facing me and Edward calmly. "You believe that because of your bond with her," he says. "But it will not help you keep her safe. We won't harm any of you. If you'll allow me to show you that, you'll understand it more clearly."

Edward looks at me again, and I bow my head, silently agreeing with Carlisle. Though this meeting was unplanned, it's no less welcome. These vampires were once part of what I would have considered my family. They are unlike any other vampires in our world, the reason for which is mostly Carlisle's doing.

"I'll find Emmett," Rosalie says, stepping around us all to leave the shop quietly.

"And I'll close the shop a little early today," Alice adds. "You should all go into the apartment upstairs. We all have so much to discuss."

She moves to cover the windows at the front of the store, and Carlisle extends his hand to me as an invitation to follow him. I reach back for Edward and Bella, and slowly, he moves in front of me so we can leave the store with Carlisle and Esme.

The lights of the store go out in an instant, darkening the space as Alice moves around closing down the shop, and Carlisle leads us all to a staircase in the back. I try to remember what the store looked like from the outside, but I had only been watching Bella. I hadn't even noticed a second level.

"We keep the existence of a living space up here hidden from our patrons," Carlisle explains as we walk. "There's also a small apartment above my medical practice just next door. We use it to keep an eye on the townspeople, and also for our own purposes. You remember that, don't you, Jasper?"

We step onto the second floor then, and I look around to see the largest room with several pieces of furniture spread around.

"I do," I nod.

Carlisle doesn't believe in killing humans to survive. But he also tried the animal diet and found it to be unsatisfying. He and Esme had tried it for an even shorter amount of time than Edward and I did, and with her ability to manipulate the human body — as well as other vampires near her — they discovered a way to prevent the vampire virus from spreading through a human's body. This meant they could feed on human blood without killing their victims. When I stayed with them and Rosalie, they traveled with a group of humans meant to feed them until their bodies gave out from age.

"And even then," he smiles as we settle around the living space, "they still don't last very long. Please make yourselves at home. Do either of you need anything?"

His implication is plain, and even Edward is aware of this, responding before I can.

"We're fine. How long have you been here?"

"Only a few years, but we've already made plans to move. The people of this town have already had their fair share of miracles, as Esme likes to call them."

"It was only a few times," she says defensively even though she's smiling. "You couldn't turn them away any more than I could." She looks at me, taking Carlisle's hand as she continues. "I apparently have a soft spot for small children and young blond-haired men."

Bella hasn't spoken this entire time, and I can feel her uncertainty and unease building the longer we sit here with Carlisle and Esme. I move in to comfort her just as Alice comes up from the shop with Rosalie and the last member of this small group. He's smiling as usual, and I instantly rise to meet him the moment he lifts his warm brown eyes to see me.

"Where the hell have you been?" he chuckles, moving to shake my hand and then easily embracing me. "You look well, Jasper."

I smile and nod. "You do as well, Emmett. I see you and Rosalie are still a handful as usual."

He shrugs. "No other way for us to be, I suppose. How have you been?"

All I can do to explain is turn so he can see Edward and Bella together on the couch, and Emmett smiles again.

"Well, that's a surprise. I see we have _a lot_ to talk about."

Again, I'm blushing, leading the way back to the sitting area where Carlisle and Esme have remained.

Alice and Rosalie are fussing over the sight of Edward and Bella, and it isn't until I sit back down that I realize why.

"You took clothes from their racks outside," I say to him, sounding angry without meaning to, and he bows his head shamefully.

"I didn't have any money," he says, apologizing in his posture and his words.

"It's all right," Alice says, smiling at Rosalie. "But we have better dresses for her. And we have clothes for you as well."

He smiles for the first time since meeting them, glancing at me. I nod that it's all right, and he relaxes after being so tense.

"The important thing," Carlisle begins, "is that you should be safe in this area for a little while. We've been looking at a more permanent residence nearby, but it will be some time before we can leave the town safely. If you've just arrived, then it will be a little while before you're discovered. But rest assured that it will happen sooner rather than later. With Winter coming, it won't be easy for you to feed without suspicion."

This is the Carlisle I remember — cautious, careful and calm. In fact, in the six or seven decades I stayed with him, I can't remember any time when he was angry, violent or judgmental. It was what drove me to stay with him in the beginning because I couldn't control myself around humans until he taught me. Rosalie had already been with him, but we all found Emmett and Alice together. Each time he made a new vampire, his caution grew because the larger his coven became, the more attention he would gain from Aro — the leader of our kind.

"And Aro is still immensely territorial," Carlisle adds, obviously listening to my thoughts.

The room falls quiet after he says this, and it's Edward who speaks first afterward.

"What does that mean?" he asks, looking at me and then Carlisle.

"It means we must all be very careful," Carlisle says. "And you should probably stay here until we've been able to gauge whether anyone in town has noticed you."

Edward tries to argue, looking at me and shaking his head. "We can't stay here," he says urgently. "I don't trust — "

"It's just for a night or two," Alice says quickly. "Emmett and Carlisle can make sure you're safe, and Rosalie and I will help Bella with her new clothes. Please, Jasper. Tell Edward it's all right."

The last time she pleaded with me, it was right before I left. It hadn't worked then, but I knew the dangers of outside vampires discovering Bella's existence. It was only because I'd been unaware of my maker than I was allowed to live. I'm worried it won't be so simple for Bella.

"We can protect her," Edward interrupts as I sit thinking of what Alice has said. "The more vampires who know of her, the less safe she'll be. I don't trust him," he says, lifting his eyes to Carlisle's.

I glance at Alice, and she moves forward quickly to sit in front of Bella while I rise and move away from her. Edward knows to follow me, but he does so more reluctantly than I expect. The window overlooking the street is so clear that I can see the stores and outbuildings in the distance, and as soon as he's next to me, I speak softly.

"We need their help," I tell him. "And I don't mean to diminish your devotion to her safety. But Carlisle knows Aro. He'll know what to do if any other vampires find us. And it will happen eventually, Edward. I want her safe just as you do. In fact, I want more than for her to be safe. I want — " The words refuse to come out, but they're there nonetheless. Edward knows it because he believes it as much as I do.

He accepts what I say slowly, glancing at the five vampires watching us carefully as they sit with Bella. "If anything happens to her," he begins, but doesn't continue.

I lift my hands to his face, comforting him silently. "I know. Believe me, Edward. I know."

His fears diminish slowly, and he bows his head, allowing me to hold him close as I turn my attention to tell Carlisle of our decision. I don't need to speak, and he nods without saying anything, gesturing for Emmett to follow him.

They leave quickly, and Alice sits next to Bella, holding onto her hands gently.

"Everything's going to be just fine, little one," she says softly. "You're safe here with us, and so are Jasper and Edward. We'll treat you all like family. We have food in the kitchen if you're hungry. There's plenty of room for you to stretch out and relax."

"I'm not hungry," Bella says just as softly. "But thank you."

Edward and I move away from the window then, rejoining Alice, Esme and Rosalie as they all surround Bella with more warmth, compassion and femininity than he or I possibly could. It's clear they've all noticed her apprehension and want to do whatever they can to appease it.

"Rose and I will show you some wonderful dresses," Alice laughs. "And Esme will do something amazing with your hair." Then Alice looks at me. "If that's all right with you."

Neither Edward nor I protest, and within seconds, they're all up and out of the room to bond, as that's essentially what they'll end up doing anyway. Worry and hesitance are still filling Edward's body, and I turn to him while we're alone.

"This won't be easy for either of us," I say, cupping his face in my hands. "But I swear to you that everything will be all right. I would never put you or Bella in any danger, and Carlisle is different from the other vampires we've encountered. He's much older than I am, and he's much more cautious."

Edward's hands grasp onto my waist tighter with each passing second. "Why didn't you tell me about him?" he asks. The pain in his voice causes me to feel it in my gut.

"After I found you, nothing that had happened to me before mattered anymore. And I wanted a fresh start with you. Aro was pretentious enough with you. I didn't know how he would react to knowing I'd been in another coven before finding you." I pause for a few seconds, remembering all the stories Carlisle had told me about Aro and the vampires he governed our kind with — Marcus and Caius. The Volturi. "Carlisle stayed with him for a short time before he found Esme and Rosalie. He witnessed firsthand the cruelty of which Aro is capable, and I didn't want to subject you to any of that."

Edward leans closer until his face is in mine, and his lips are close to mine as he whispers. "Tell me," he pleads. "I want to know it."

He kisses me gently, and I kiss him, instantly thinking of the moment I first opened my eyes as a vampire almost four hundred years earlier.

* * *

_**I don't know if this will be the last chapter posted here for good, but I do know it will be a little while before the next one is posted. I'm going through an extensive move from the house I'm in right now to another house, so I'm packing and reorganizing. Please bear with me while I'm moving, and we'll see where we are at the end of the month.**_

_**Now, while I've got your attention down here, I've opened an account at TWCS to possibly move my Mature-rated stories to that site. Hopefully, all will go smoothly, and once I've got everything moved, I'll put links in my profile for you to follow. Don't forget though, I think you'll have to register, but again, come on, it's free!  
**_

_**Tell me what you think of this chapter and anything else that's on your mind.  
**_

_**Later!  
**_


	6. Past Life

_**So I know I said I might not post this, but I've decided what's gonna happen will happen. And this was ready since my move is going along smoothly.  
**_

_**We get a little more insight into Jasper in this chapter and also Edward. So I hope you like it.  
**_

_**There's a very adult scene at the beginning here, so you've been warned!  
**_

_**I don't own Twilight, but I'm responsible for this trek into messing everything up, so blame me.  
**_

_**This is also unbeta'd, so any mistakes you see are mine.  
**_

_**Thanks for the favorites and alerts.  
**_

_**See you at the bottom!  
**_

* * *

_**Past Life**_

"I woke on the side of a dirt road," I whisper as Edward and I lay in a room within the depths of the apartment building belonging to Carlisle.

Though Alice and Esme left us alone, I felt the need for us to find somewhere a little more private to talk. Of course, once we were alone, Edward didn't much care for what I had to say because he could see it in my mind. Instead, we kissed and touched and stroked until we were both in need of some relief. It was difficult knowing other Vampires were nearby — no matter how delicate they were being to our arrival.

Edward and I have always only had each other. It's strange to think of others' senses when we're together, and I'm glad that Carlisle is away from the building so this won't have any major effects on him or his reaction to us.

My hands are cradling Edward's hips as we lay facing each other, and he's gently peppering my shoulders and neck with light, perfect kisses while I talk. I like to talk, and he likes to tell me what he's feeling. It's the only thing that helps us feel at least a little normal when we're alone.

"I had no idea what had happened to me, and there was no one else there to tell me what I was supposed to do. I must have wandered for weeks before Carlisle found me. He's the one who told me what I was and what it meant. If he hadn't been the one, I don't know what might have happened to me. And we discovered my ability together."

"You must have been so scared," Edward whispers close to my ear, still kissing me.

"I was," I admit. "But then I was angry. Frustrated. Confused. Sad. Scared. All within the same moment." I laugh as a new memory surfaces, illuminating it before Edward can react to it. "I think I gave Carlisle a headache the first time it happened. He was nearly as confused as I was, and neither of us understood what was happening until he was able to calm me down."

Edward wraps his hands around my back and gently begins caressing my spine, moving his mouth back to mine. "Is that what happened to me?" he asks in between breaths and kisses.

"Somewhat," I say, lifting my hands to his face and intensifying our interactions. "But I knew I could save you. Edward, I love you."

"What about Aro?"

The image of the man who controlled my fate so long ago flashes through my mind, his long black hair and black eyes sending an involuntary shiver through my body. His touch had brought forth many thoughts and feelings, but Carlisle had protected me from his wrath.

"Aro is cruel and spiteful. He wants only power and numbers, and he wanted me, despite already having a vampire who could do what I did much better than I ever could. He doesn't like that Carlisle has amassed this small number of Vampires in such a short period of time, and he especially doesn't like that Carlisle created them all himself."

Edward's hand grabs my leg to pull me even closer, and soon, his hard length is rubbing against mine. I'm overcome with the need to have him again, but he continues to speak softly, still kissing me fervently.

"I thought that was forbidden," he whispers.

Unconsciously, I lower my hand to where my shaft is touching his, taking us both in my hand and watching Edward's eyes flutter closed. A different kind of lust overpowers him, and I lean in to kiss his neck, whispering myself.

"After I was created, it was a little more difficult, but after me, there was only Emmett and Alice. Then I left. All it required before was a letter informing Aro of your actions so he would send a guard to ensure the new creation was being contained. After what happened to me, Aro became irritated that so many vampires were ignoring his creed. So he sent his guards out to dispose of the new vampires and their creators, unless a good reason was given for the haste taken. When I found you — "

His lips halt my words in favor of his tongue touching mine, and for a minute, nothing else is said. He moves his hips, and his cock moves against mine. It's been a little while since we touched this way, and after everything he's discovered, I know he's only wanting reassurance from me that it won't change anything between us.

Unlike the way I was feeling last night with Bella's arrival, these vampires are a real threat to us, and I have to take special care to make sure my mate and Bella are both safe. But I love touching him and kissing him and making love to him. Once he's heard all these thoughts going through my head, he kisses me deeper.

"I need you inside me," he moans. "Jasper. Please."

I have no reason to refuse him, easing my hand from him and then squeezing his buttocks to feel for his slippery entrance which I've already touched and licked just a few moments earlier. He moans again, a little louder, and I lay my mouth over his to keep the sound from carrying too far.

"Easy, my beautiful boy," I whisper. "We don't want to disturb our hosts."

With that, I hitch his leg up over my side and scoot a little closer. He always likes to see me when we do this, but some times when it's easier, I go from behind. But my boy needs to see my eyes when I'm inside him, and if I have to work a little harder, then that's what I'll do. He's all that matters to me right now, and I won't spare anything at his expense.

Stroking his entrance, I kiss him and rub his leg, wanting him to relax and be at ease with our situation and our future. For a moment, he releases my lips, gasping and grasping onto my own body for stability. He opens up for me after another moment, and then I know I can't contain his moaning. He bites his lip, and I lean forward to kiss his chin as the length of my finger slides inside him gently.

"Jasper, please," he whispers, arching his back and obviously wanting my finger deeper so he can be closer.

While I'm stroking his entrance with my finger, I lay my other hand over his head and rise to my elbow to be above him. His hips cradle mine as I scoot even closer so I can replace my one finger with two.

Coupling with Edward always feels so exquisite. Though I've been with women before, nothing ever compares to holding him or kissing him or touching him. And sometimes, it's amusing when he uses the language he's learned from the people he's killed over the years. I don't usually like repeating it, but he has no trouble chanting it when we're together.

His lust-filled eyes find mine, and suddenly, I'm thinking about the cottage where we stayed not long after arriving in America, as it's called by the locals. We spent several days there, exploring each other and our surroundings while waiting for our money to come from my family's estate in England.

I lean down to kiss him only a few seconds after the thought enters my mind. "You were nearly insatiable," I whisper against his lips.

"And I will be again soon if you don't stop reminiscing," he complains, grasping onto my backside and thrusting his tongue into my mouth with little warning.

No more talking or reminiscing occurs after he says this.

I kiss and stroke him until I know he's ready for me, pulling his buttocks to my hips and slowly entering him the way he wants. He's so tight and warm. I'm almost driven to curse the Gods who make me want him this way, but I'm more likely to thank whatever power brought us together.

We're moving together the instant I'm completely seated, and he's groaning softly as I thrust gently at first. With each movement, we get closer, and I move faster. There really aren't words to describe this, and for a few minutes, we're both silent.

"Dear God, you feel so good," he whimpers.

Our lips meet as I whisper back. "So do you, my love."

The world disappears. I only know him and how he feels against me, around me, all over me the way I know he was always meant to be. His emotions are so centered on me and us and this. While the lust within him is still very present, I can also sense love and passion, reverence and happiness. Ecstacy and exhilaration build inside him along with the tightness I feel within myself, and with that in mind, I slip my hand between us to continue stroking his shaft.

He moans against my lips, panting and whimpering still. His hands cup my cheeks, and within the next moment, the pressure reaches its peak inside me until I'm releasing inside him.

"Oh, fuck!"

Hot, creamy cum paints us both as we ride my orgasm and his together, and his chin presses against my forehead as I lay my lips along his throat. My instinct to bite him overwhelms me, and as my teeth pierce his skin, a new breath fills his lungs. It's not often that I do this, but it keeps us bonded and more or less dependent on each other. The last time we coupled, Edward bit me, and we fell asleep in each other's arms.

Once I've taken all I need, even though it isn't much, I hold him close to share the heat in our bodies while we still have it. I feel much warmer than I should, and it's at this point that I wonder about Bella.

"She's still with Alice and Rosalie," Edward whispers, still holding my face and rubbing the tip of my nose with his. "And Carlisle and Emmett are still going through town to make sure it's safe."

"And Esme?" I ask softly.

"She's in the kitchen."

I relax a little, still connected to him and unwilling to disengage until I absolutely have to.

"I don't like Carlisle," Edward says suddenly. "I don't like the way he looks at you."

"Are you jealous?" I tease, wrapping my hands around his shoulders and licking the healing wound over the side of his neck.

He shivers, closes his eyes and exhales sharply. "I'm serious, Jasper. You're _my_ mate. He has Alice and Esme. I don't like him."

Stunned, I lean back to look at him, seeing anger in his eyes and feeling a more covetous feeling within him than I ever have. "He's harmless, Edward. And he knows I'm your mate. Carlisle is simply a difficult to ignore. And his ability makes him even more difficult to deter."

"Yes, I know how his ability works," Edward says curtly. "And I'll trust him for now, but I'm not letting up on this until I know he understands that as much as we do. And I don't want him around Bella unless we're with her. She's fragile enough right now, and if he's already used our abilities, I can't imagine what he'll do with hers."

In all the years I've known Edward, I've never heard him this possessive.

"That's because I've never felt threatened until now," he informs me. "I saw the thoughts in his mind. He wishes you'd never left, and he wonders what he can do to make you stay. If he believes we're in danger, we have no choice to believe him until we've proven him wrong. But that doesn't mean I'll give him the chance to take what's mine."

At first, this frightens me, but then I feel the same way. Edward is my mate, and Bella is our responsibility. No one or nothing is going to take either of them away from me.

I lean in as close as I can, lowering my voice to its lowest octave so only he'll hear me since everyone else is either gone or otherwise occupied. "You have nothing to worry about where any of them are concerned. I left them because I needed to be on my own and figure out how I was going to survive. Everything I was with them vanished the moment I found you. It's in my past, and you're my future. You and Bella. As soon as we know it's safe, we'll leave."

The fear I see in his eyes surpasses whatever anger he felt a moment ago. "And if he won't let us leave?" he whispers, his voice trembling.

"We can take care of each other," I soothe. "No one will stop us from doing that. Right now, we just have to lay low and keep from being separated after today. I'm sure they can accommodate us, and once that's done, we'll begin checking the town on our own."

He relaxes a little after I say this, pressing his face into the bend of my neck. It's quiet for a few more minutes before he speaks again, easily changing the subject.

"I heard Alice when she was talking to Bella," he says, now grinning slightly. "The storekeeper was trying to bargain more money out of me when she called you Bella's suitor. Why did that embarrass you?"

I don't know what to say at first, thinking of everything Bella said and how she cried over her parents. I feel responsible for her well-being, but —

"It's okay if you don't feel what I do," he says softly, leaning back to look at me and cupping my face in his hands. "I do have a slight advantage over you, but it doesn't change what she thinks of you. Now that she knows we'll both protect her and never leave her, she'll have a difficult time trusting anyone else. And you felt within her what I saw in her mind. There's something deep inside her that's changed her. We'll figure it out together."

It's easy to believe him. It's easy love and cherish him. I never knew it could be so easy, and now that we have Bella, it's easy to see the effect she has on him. He's still the same boy I found all those years ago, but there's something in his eyes that tells me he's different now. I'm not jealous of this. I'm worried. I shouldn't be, but with this new emergence of Carlisle and his surprising proximity to us, I can't stop the worry from spreading.

"You know I love you," he whispers. "I'm _in_ love with you, Jasper. Nothing will ever change that. No matter what happens after today, you'll be my past, present and future. Always."

He leans forward then, kissing me and lowering his hands to my hips just as a small knock comes at the door.

We both know instantly that it's Bella, and he moves first, finding our clothes so we can dress quickly before he opens the door. Her emotions are calmer now than they were before we left her, and when she sees us, a smile naturally forms across her face. But then it fades just as quickly.

"What's wrong?" I ask, moving to Edward's side as his demeanor changes from relaxed to tense almost instantly.

"It's Carlisle," he says. "He's found something in town."

Alarmed, I turn him to face me. "Another vampire?"

"No," he growls softly, his face contorting angrily. "Something much worse."

We leave the room quickly, arriving in the living room space where Carlisle is sitting with his coven after just a moment.

"What's happening?" I ask as soon as I see him. "What have you found?"

The resolve in his eyes is startling, and I instantly know that he's not only found something worse than a Vampire, but also something that's threatened _all_ of us — not just Bella.

"Emmett and I were passing through the west side of the town when we both smelled it," he says.

"What did you smell?" I demand.

His expression of graveness worsens. "Werewolves."

* * *

_**I bet you weren't expecting that, huh? Not sure right now how involved the wolves will be, but time will tell.**_

_**Tell me what you think, and I'll be working on my stories and my move in the process.  
**_

_**See ya later!  
**_


	7. The Sun and the Moon

_**Okay, so it might not have been a BIG surprise for the wolves to show up, but it's not necessarily their presence that's the surprise. I wonder if anyone can guess what the surprise really is.  
**_

_**There's a lot more going on here than what's said, so try not to take anything at face value.  
**_

_**And thanks to everyone who's put this on their alerts and favorites. An extra thanks to my few reviewers. You're all awesome.  
**_

_**I don't own Twilight, but I own the whole Star Wars collection, so go ahead and call me a geek. I'll wear it with pride.  
**_

_**This is also un-beta'd, so any mistakes you see are mine.  
**_

_**See you at the bottom!  
**_

* * *

_**The Sun and the Moon**_

"Werewolves," I repeat. "I thought they were hunted to extinction by Caius."

Carlisle bows his head penitently. "So did I."

When I was first turned nearly four hundred years ago, I was so ignorant of my state of being that I didn't know of my limitations. The very first thing I learned was that I could no longer walk in the sun. It was a painful lesson, and I had to feed twice as much to heal from the ordeal. It was a mystery to me until Carlisle found me.

He told me over the course of my time with him that while he'd been in Italy with the Volturi that they kept several old books and documentation of everyone afflicted with the lycanthrope disease — at least, that's what they considered it. Caius especially detested them, and it was he who led a group of vampires to squash werewolves from the known world. There were rules laid down by the Volturi regarding werewolves, and any breach of these rules nearly always resulted in death for both the wolf and the vampire.

The first rule, Carlisle told me, was that no vampire was ever to deal with any werewolves — either by accident or otherwise. Most werewolves were vicious, senseless creatures, and through the many sieges Caius led, he learned that a werewolf's bite was fatal to vampires. The second rule, which was meant to prevent further breeding of werewolves, was that every vampire who ever discovered a pack of werewolves was to report it to the Volturi immediately or face the harshest punishment for a vampire short of death — desiccation.

I've read from most of Carlisle's books that it's painful and feels very much like being set on fire while you're still breathing with no insulation between you and the flames. It's not my way to defy the laws laid down by our governors, but I didn't know there were any werewolves in the area before entering it. I should have, but now that I know they're nearby, the only thing I want to do is run.

"That wouldn't be very wise, Jasper," Carlisle says as he sits in front of me, Edward and Bella.

"Why not?" I argue.

"It's a full moon, Jasper," Rosalie says from Emmett's side. "If you leave, they'll find you and attack you. In two days when the moon has waned, we can accompany you to wherever you were planning to go, and then we'll all need to be careful."

Her words weigh heavily in the air as we all take in what she's said, and Alice speaks first after it looks like we've accepted it.

"Emmett should be able to get your things from the hardware store and bring them here," she says, rising and moving around to Edward's side to sit next to him. "And we'll make sure you're all comfortable. Please stay. If we let you leave and something happens to you, I just couldn't live with myself or anyone else here knowing that we could've helped you."

I don't have to read her emotions to know how sincere she is, and it feels like Edward knows this too. He also seems to see something in her mind that tells him how serious her plea is. His hand finds mine and squeezes it gently, looking at her and nodding without saying anything.

A wide smile instantly spreads across her face, and she grabs his other hand for a few seconds before rising again and hurrying to Rosalie's side.

"We'll just get you a room ready," she says before pulling Rosalie to her feet and leaving quickly to perform their task.

"It will be a few days before any of the Guard come to do their usual sweep through town," Carlisle says once Alice and Rosalie are gone. "They check on us every few months to make sure we're holding to my promise of never making another vampire. If Demetri and Felix find you here, they won't hesitate to take you all back to Italy. Regardless of Bella's amazing ability, she's still human, and no human can know of our kind without also becoming one of us."

"We won't do that to her," I vow, glancing Edward as he sits with Bella between us. "And it might not even be possible. Bella possesses a heat that would more than likely destroy the virus if it entered her system. I've seen it and so has Edward."

While I see no greed or duplicity in his eyes or in his feelings, the truth in my words prompts a curiosity inside Carlisle that I know will prove to be dangerous. He looks at me and then Edward, rubbing his hands together.

"Would you mind if I — "

"Yes, we mind," Edward shouts.

Carlisle holds his hands up in surrender. "Forgive me. I can sometimes allow my curiosity to get the better of me, especially with an ability that requires more interaction between me and it. I promise I mean her no harm."

Edward holds Bella's hand tighter, refusing to relax even as Esme speaks.

"It's nearly lunch time," she says with a new resolve. "Bella needs to eat."

She doesn't ask either me or Edward for permission, reaching for Bella and helping her to her feet before they leave the room slowly.

"I'll get your carriage back to the shop," Emmett says, also rising to leave.

Then it's just us and Carlisle, and Edward is still on edge, twisting his mouth in annoyance and scooting away from me when the look in Carlisle's eyes changes from curious to amused.

I have to read between the lines to realize what he's doing, and I yell without meaning to. "Stop doing that!"

Carlisle laughs softly and bows his head. "I apologize," he says quietly.

"I'm no longer your concern, Carlisle," I remind him, to which he lifts his head to look at me. "And I don't need you to help me keep Edward or Bella safe. The time I had with you is in the past, and it won't ever be like that again. If you do that again, I'll take my mate and Bella, and we'll leave — regardless of the werewolves or Alice's plea."

Now that there is no longer anything being hidden between the two of them, I try to change the subject as we sit there waiting.

"How did Caius miss this corner of the world in his crusade to exterminate the werewolves?" I ask, drawing Carlisle's attention to me.

A smile crosses his face as he obviously remembers his time with the Volturi not long after he was turned himself. "There could be any number of reasons," he says. "For one, Caius hasn't left the citadel in nearly three hundred years. And he likes to keep his group of vampires near him in the event something or someone attempts to launch an assault on him or the others. He likes to oversee the influx of humans who travel to Italy every year, and he delegates duties to the others who remain there while Aro sends out observation parties to keep an eye on the other covens that he knows of. Yours is one he will be most interested in observing if he ever discovers you."

The pause in his reasoning catches my attention and then Edward's, prompting us both to speak at the same time.

"Coven?"

Carlisle smiles. "Oh, yes. It only takes two to make a coven, but _three_ . . . that's very likely to catch his attention. And if you think my curiosity has been piqued by your devotion to Bella, you haven't seen anything until you've seen what Aro will do if he discovers this. I can reign in my instilled need to satisfy my curiosity. Aro can't. He won't. It won't matter to him that Bella might not be able to be changed into a vampire. Just like Caius never cared that lycanthropy was a curse just as our affliction is. He was afraid of it and wished to eradicate it. The best thing you can do for Bella is trust me. I won't harm her. Aro will destroy her."

Fear rises inside Edward so quickly that I can do nothing to stop it, and he shoots to his feet instantly. "I won't let that happen! And no matter what you say, she won't ever be safe here with you! You won't take Jasper from me! I swear you won't!"

The smile on Carlisle's face fades instantly, and his surprise at Edward's outburst is more genuine than any emotion I've ever felt from him. I stand up in front of Edward to take his attention from Carlisle, making him look at me.

"Edward, calm down, please," I whisper. "It's all right. We're safe. Bella is safe. We won't let anything happen to her. Carlisle didn't mean to frighten you. He was simply answering my questions. And we need answers."

Edward clenches his fists as tight as he can, shutting his eyes and attempting to calm his nerves that have just been pushed to the edge. His jaw fluctuates as he draws in a deep breath and then exhales sharply.

"Please allow me to apologize," Carlisle says quietly. "I did not mean to cause such a reaction in you. And I won't hurt any of you. Jasper, you were — are my family as much as Esme and Alice, as much as Rosalie and Emmett. I know you went off on your own to figure out where you belonged. I meant no disrespect to either of you."

Whether Edward accepts this or not, I cannot tell, watching him glare at Carlisle and then stalk out of the room without a word one way or another.

"Jasper," Carlisle says, standing up when we're alone. "I swear I — "

"I know. You've apologized enough. Edward is accustomed to us being on our own. Even with Bella, he still believes we can keep her safe with just us. But I know it will not be that easy. She's so unique. I don't want anything to happen to her anymore than he does."

Carlisle sighs softly, and then his smile returns slowly. "He loves you very much."

I nod and look at him. "As much as I love him. But he's very —"

"Young," Carlisle finishes. "Yes, I can see that. Caius must've had a fit testing his ability on the two of you."

There isn't a response I can give him to deny his claim, and when I don't say anything back, he steps closer with his voice lower.

"Edward is right," he says. "I do regret letting you go, and I wish I could do something to make you stay with us. But I won't do it this way. I wanted you safe — just as you want him and Bella safe. You might not be my creation, but you were my student. And we'll have to be especially careful when Demetri and Felix come to check on us. They'll inspect the shop and my practice, and we won't be able to hide your scent from them. Bella might throw them off at first, but that will not give you time to get away."

I can instantly see where he's going with his reasoning, but unlike what I might've done upon first meeting him, I now have the ability to make my own choices and see them through until a new choice presents itself. "I appreciate your insight," I assure him. He chuckles dismissively, but I keep going. "I do. But you're not my maker. And I don't have a bond to you other than that of a friend. A teacher. We'll always have the bond. The connection I have to Edward is a thousand times stronger, and I have to think of him when I make my decisions. We'll remain here until the moon phases, to avoid a confrontation with the werewolves. But after that, we're leaving. Perhaps if we all survive, we'll see each other again under better circumstances."

His laugh dies slowly until a pronounced frown spreads across his face. "Jasper," he says shaking his head. "If we survive this, you will be somewhere else, and we will be gone from this place. Nowhere you go will ever truly be home unless you have a family. You shouldn't make roots or become accustomed to anything permanent. And you knew this when you left me. If you truly wish to survive, you'll listen to me. If you don't, they will kill us all."

The seriousness of his words doesn't frighten me the way they did Edward, but I can't hide the validity of what he's told me. I know he's being truthful because he's seen it for himself. The last thing I want is for anyone to suffer because of my quick decisions.

"I'll think over what you've said," I reply judiciously. "But for now, what _I_ said still stands."

He doesn't argue with me this time, glancing around as he changes the subject like I did before. "Perhaps these werewolves could give us some insight to their fight against the moon," he says.

To that, I must laugh, knowing it will be nearly impossible to even be in the same space with the werewolves without them wanting to tear us apart. But then I can't laugh anymore, knowing that if Demetri and Felix come, there could very well be a blood bath in this little settlement where the rivers fork before flowing into the ocean.

"I would never say anything to any other vampire," Carlisle says as we still stand alone in the living room, "but I've often wondered if the werewolves are truly cursed by the moon as we are cursed by the sun. There are legends, you know. About them and us. I wonder if a vampire has ever attempted to coexist with a werewolf."

His insinuation is clear, but I have no response for him.

The idea is absolutely ludicrous — and dangerous. Werewolves are all driven by their emotions and the phases of the moon. If a human got too close, they would either die or turn into a werewolf themselves. Their curse is just as — if not more viral than ours, and it's much more painful to turn into a werewolf. Carlisle knows from experience what Caius did to the ones they trapped and studied.

"I spend most of my time away from the clinic for my practice postulating," Carlisle says with a nod to the stairs to leave the apartment.

At first, I'm hesitant, but after a minute or two, I follow him slowly.

The shop is darker now that the cloud cover has increased, and as we approach the door at the back, I can hear it raining outside.

"I know Aro's way of doing things is wrong," Carlisle says, lifting a black umbrella from a rack beside the door. "When I promised him I wouldn't make anymore vampires, I never swore I wouldn't seek them out."

He opens the door then, and after a glance in my direction to make sure he has my attention, we step out in the pouring rain together.

This feels a little odd as it's been three hundred years since I was with him, but we soon fall in step with each other, walking along the small sidewalk that lines the rear of all the buildings and separates the town from the trees encroaching on the progress of civilization.

"I moved us to this area because I found another group of vampires that share my aversion to killing humans," he explains within the hum of the rain. "I sent Esme and Alice here with Rosalie and Emmett while I remained in the northern country where this coven wishes to remain away from the clutches of Aro's rule. From what they told me, no guard has been to observe them in several decades. When we leave the area, that is where we will go."

"How is that possible?" I ask, glancing around to see that we're mostly alone as we walk. "No coven has ever gone so long without Aro's involvement."

To that Carlisle smiles. "Well, apparently, Aro is even more afraid of Tanya than he is of me."

"Tanya," I repeat. "This coven is led by a woman?"

He nods. "A very capable woman. And talented. She possesses the most curious ability. She can make you do whatever she says simply by touching you. The first time Aro met her, she told him never to seek her out again, and it frightened him so much that he actually listened to her. And by then, it was already she, Irina and Kate who completed her coven. She's added four new members since then — other vampires who also have our aversion to killing humans. It isn't as easy for them as it is for us because we have Esme, but we learned a lot from each other. She has become my greatest ally against Aro."

His words make me nervous, and I have to say it aloud despite the fact that he can hear my thoughts now. "Carlisle, you can't stand against Aro," I plead. "He's too strong, and he has too many vampires who are loyal to him."

Carlisle stops on the sidewalk just before it becomes a muddy path along the foliage to our right. "This is why I need you, Jasper," he says, lifting his hand to my face. His touch surprises me, but he doesn't let go even though he knows he should. "I need you and Edward with me so there will be enough of us to overthrow Aro. He's been in control for too long, and I know many others are not loyal to him as much as they are to themselves — the way you are and the way Edward is. There are more of us than there are of him."

In an instant, I know what he's been planning to do even though I can't read his mind the way Edward can. "You're meaning to kill Demetri and Felix when they come," I deduce, to which he steps closer so that our bodies are almost completely aligned.

I shake my head fervently. "You can't. He'll send more of them. Like you said, he'll kill us all. Carlisle, you can't!"

He closes the distance between us instantly, his lips finding mine for the first time in over three hundred years and igniting a new set of memories that I'd been fighting furiously to keep tucked away. Our tongues find each other, sparring for control for over a minute before he lets go gently and whispers against my mouth.

"I can," he says. "And I will. You can either help me or be gone when they get here. The choice is yours."

The umbrella has fallen, leaving us standing in the pouring rain, and my clothes are quickly becoming drenched.

I'm completely shocked and terrified of what to do next, but he doesn't offer me any answers to my silent questions. It's not possible to overthrow the Leaders who've been governing us for nearly two millennia. Their reach is too far. Their power is too great. Carlisle may as well have given the members of his coven a death sentence.

"Have faith, Jasper," he pleads. "I must have taught you that."

"You taught me to survive," I yell. "How does _this_ help me survive?"

"There's more to this life than simply surviving. And with Aro gone, I plan on exploring that life to the fullest. Join me again, Jasper. And we'll all be able to live that life. My family and yours."

I can't speak for anything. The rain has soaked me to the bone. My limbs have frozen in place.

Fear has completely crippled me.

* * *

_**Anybody ever seen X-Men Origins: Wolverine? Remember how they gave Kayla tactile mind control so she could make anyone do what she said. This is the power I gave Tanya. Handy when you're trying to keep Aro at bay.**_

_**Also don't get any ideas with the whole Jasper and Carlisle thing. But just to warn you, something else is coming up for our little coven, so don't say i didn't warn you.  
**_

_**That's about all for right now, so hopefully, you'll let me know what you think and where you think this is going.  
**_

_**See ya later!  
**_


	8. An Exception to Every Rule

_**I know it's late, but I'm a night owl. And this is also a little late in updating, but I'm all done with my move, so the updates should be a little more frequent from now on.  
**_

_**A few readers weren't too thrilled with Carlisle in the last chapter, but what can I say? He's a vampire - like a real one. But he has reasons for his behavior. Bear with me, and we'll figure him out together.  
**_

_**Thanks to everyone who's read and reviewed, and also to everyone adding this to your faves and alerts. You're all awesome!  
**_

_**How do we feel about a few chapters from Edward's point of view?  
**_

_**This is all un-beta'd, so any lingering mistakes are all mine.  
**_

_**I don't own Twilight, but I'm just making a mess in her sandbox for my own pleasure.  
**_

* * *

_**An Exception to Every Rule**_

Somehow, we make it back to Carlisle's home, but I have no memory of the journey. It continues to rain, and after a while, thunder permeates the air. Carlisle leaves the umbrella at the back door, nudging me through the shop to the stairs.

"I don't expect an answer now," Carlisle says as we ascend the stairs slowly. "And you are not obligated to agree to my plan. But it would be preferable, Jasper. I value your presence, and already, I can see value in Edward's presence."

I stop in the middle of the stairs. "He has more value as my mate than as a member of your coven. And I did not come here to join you."

He smiles and steps closer until my back touches the wall behind me. "I did not go out to find a newly made vampire the day I found you, but find you, I did. Does Edward truly know of the bond we once shared? I was unable to show him before you stopped me."

The haziness dissipates as I stand there knowing what he showed Edward and realizing it was a mistake to stay here. I push my former teacher out of my way and proceed up the stairs to the apartment. "We're leaving in the morning," I huff. "This was a mistake."

He doesn't stop me, and I don't look back.

Edward is sitting on the couch in the living room when I come in slowly. He looks up to see me there, and immediately, I see the remorse on his face as well as feel it inside his heart. I'm confused, and I hurry to him instantly.

"Has something happened?" I beg him. "Are you all right?"

He glances to see Carlisle, speaking softly. "I've never embarrassed myself so badly," he says penitently. "And I never wanted to embarrass you." He bows his head, rubbing his face with the heels of his hands. "Or been disrespectful or angry or acted so selfishly."

I reach for him, cupping his neck in my hand. "Edward," I whisper, sooting him as I rub his neck gently.

He looks at me, his once anger-filled eyes now pleading and sorrowful. Then he looks at Carlisle. "Please accept my apology. I did not mean to raise my voice. Jasper is all I know, and Bella . . . She's so innocent, and I have become attached to her so quickly. She is finding a place in my heart and settling there quite easily."

I turn my eyes to Carlisle, sensing a small measure of guilt from him, but guilt nonetheless. He looks at me and then Edward, moving to the table in front of the couch.

"Jasper is your mate, Edward," Carlisle says reaching for Edward's hand to hold it between both of his. "He has been your protector, your teacher, your lover, and it should frighten you — the prospect of losing him. If it did not, your bond with him would not be complete. But I am no threat to you. On the contrary, I wish for your safety just as I wish for his. It was wrong of me to manipulate my power over you. Forgive me."

Edward reaches for my hand, still holding both of Carlisle's as he speaks. "I know you . . . loved him too, even if he did not return that love in the same manner. He says his life before he found me did not matter, but it does. If you had not found him, he would not have found me. So in a way, I should thank you. And if you say you can keep us safe, then I must believe you."

I expect to feel pride from Carlisle, but when I don't, I look at him to see a strained expression on his face and in his eyes.

"It is I who have disrespected the both of you," he confesses. "When I saw Jasper, I acted on instinct, and I should have used my conscience instead. It seems I have tainted our first meeting. Shall we begin again?"

As a gesture, he moves a hand to mine and Edward's, acknowledging our bond with a nod and a small smile. Edward glances at me, and I also smile, looking at Carlisle.

"Again," I nod, silently agreeing to forget his earlier transgression.

He nods and releases our hands and then Edward's. "I know this will please Alice and Esme, but I must warn you that Rosalie and Emmett are both rather vigorous when it comes to their mating. And we will all feed tonight to acknowledge your place here. What's ours is now yours," he says, rising and leaving before Edward and I can protest.

"Exactly what has just happened?" Edward asks, still holding my hand.

I should be angry, but I'm not. "I believe he just welcomed us into his coven," I say.

Bewilderment overwhelms Edward, and I turn him to face me and take his other hand in mine.

"It will be all right," I assure him. "Bella will remain with us, but these vampires will help keep us safe. The next few days will be a new experience for us all, but once the Guards are gone, perhaps we'll begin settling into our new home."

Heavy footfalls climb the stairs then, and Emmett emerges with a wide grin. He spots us and moves closer.

"What were you planning on doing with your purchase?" he asks, meaning the supplies from the hardware store. "There's enough to mend a moderately-sized house."

I glance at Edward, seeing a lovely blush in his cheeks as I look at Emmett again. "When we found Bella, she was inside an abandoned house. We had plans to fix its cosmetic problems to make it more liveable."

Emmett nods, still smiling. His emotions are easy to read as he glances over Edward and then our joined hands. "Forgive me for being so bold," he says, "but how do the two of you . . ."

Edward laughs, squeezing my hand, and I look at him, smiling widely.

"The same as you and Rosalie," I chuckle, "but different, of course. And you're forgiven."

Emmett smiles and shakes his head, speaking after a minute. "Everyone else is in the kitchen," he says, rising and prompting us to follow him. "Carlisle likes for us to meet like humans and share our thoughts. And I'm sure we'll all have thoughts on this."

We follow Emmett without question, and he leads us through the apartment with an unabashed smile on his face.

"I suppose there really is an exception to every rule," he says as we walk.

"In what way?" Edward asks.

"As you being mates but also forming attachments with a human — a female human most specifically. I'm intrigued how you manage this without the need to kill her interfering. But Alice has been chattering about this for weeks."

Hushed chattering catches my ears, and a few seconds later, Emmett steps into the kitchen with us behind him. Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie and Alice are all sitting around a small round table while Bella eats from a silver-looking plate full of food. It doesn't seem to bother her that she is sitting in a room full of vampires, and they do not seem bothered by her eating in front of them.

If nothing else, they all look very please with her appetite and her eagerness to please them.

"Jasper," Carlisle says, "Edward, please sit. There is much to discuss, and as soon as Bella has finished her meal, we will begin."

Slowly, I guide Edward to an empty chair which happens to be next to Alice as she watches over Bella. Emmett accommodates me with another chair before sitting down himself next to Rosalie.

The last of Bella's meal disappears slowly, and she gulps down the last of her milk before Esme steps in to take the pate and cup for them to be washed. Because they still keep several humans, this action of her cleaning in the kitchen must be something she's accustomed to.

"What's most important," Carlisle says from Esme's side, "is our survival. It's a two-day run to Tanya's coven, but if we leave now, it won't give us enough time to disassociate ourselves with the townspeople. If we leave without laying a trail, Demetri and Felix will be able to follow us through the wilderness."

"Their arrival is still imminent," Alice says with her eyes on me and Edward. "If they find Bella here, we won't be able to stop them from taking her. Every time I look, I see them overpowering us." Her eyes never leave Edward's, and he looks at me without saying anything.

I know whatever she's seen has something to do with him, but I don't know what she's seen. She's worried and scared, and Edward is confused and . . . angry. Whatever he's seen, it isn't good.

"Then we will need to be even more cautious," Carlisle says. "We can't leave the safety of the apartment until it's safe to travel. So far the next two days, we'll devise a plan to get Bella to safety until we can ensure Aro won't be able to send more guards."

"How will you do this?" Edward asks softly.

Carlisle says nothing, but he bows his head.

"In the meantime," Esme says, "we need to keep our strength up, as well as Bella's, and we'll have to do extra sweeps of the town to ensure we're aware of Demetri and Felix's arrival as soon as possible. Rosalie and Alice will help me get everything ready for tonight. Until then, we need to stay inside."

"What about our house?" Bella asks.

Carlisle glances at Emmett and then Rosalie. "How far away from town is this house?" he inquires.

"Approximately ten kilometers," I reveal.

He looks at Alice and Esme, obviously thinking over what I've said. He doesn't say anything, but Edward's confusion increases slightly.

"Emmett and I will go there tonight," Carlisle decides. "If it's not a lot of work, we should finish before the sun rises."

"But after you feed," Esme stipulates.

No one argues with her, and it's settled.

The afternoon disappears as Alice, Esme and Rosalie vanish in the depths of the apartment to prepare for the meal tonight. The rain stops, and the sun comes out while Edward and I pace around our room. Bella sleeps the few hours away, and her emotions simplify.

While I'm watching her, I think back to what Carlisle said earlier when we talked and when he showed Edward his plan.

"I know Carlisle plans on killing Demetri and Felix if he has the chance," I say, and Edward stops pacing. "What did he show you?"

Edward turns his eyes to Bella as she sleeps. "He said, in so many words, that it was my responsibility to keep Bella safe," he explains. "And he sees in my mind and my heart much more clearly than I. How I am to protect her, and from what or whom, I do not know. But his insistence was plain." He stops and looks at me. "Jasper, I don't want this to happen, but I can't seem to stop it. What am I supposed to do?"

I hurry to him as he begins weeping, stepping in front of him and taking him in my arms as I did when I first saw him. He latches onto me with such ferocity that I'm astonished at his strength but also his fear. "Edward," I whisper. "It's all right. For now, it's all right." Then I move to sit on the bed with him. "You found her, and you helped her see she was not alone. My attachment to her is just that. Attachment. I've come to care for her a great deal in such a short period of time, and I would have nothing happen to her. But I can see much more than that in you. And it's all right. We shouldn't presume we know how this will end when it's just beginning. Please, my love. Do not be afraid until there is something to fear."

The bed moves behind us, and we both look to see Bella awake and watching us from the other side of the bed. Sleep in her eyes and on her face disappears slowly, and she extends her hand to us. Edward moves instantly, laying over the bed in front of her and taking her hand in his. I rise slowly, meaning to step away when Bella reaches for me.

"Don't go, Jasper," she pleads.

I'm helpless to resist, moving around to the other side of the bed and laying down with my chest to her back. Her little body fits inside the shape of mine, and Edward scoots closer to form a cocoon around her.

There is no tension in Bella's body as she lays her forehead against Edward's and closes her eyes again. She doesn't sleep, but she feels content and happy. This is something I know draws me to her. Whatever plans Carlisle has, this here with me now is all I care about.

I'm more relaxed than I've been in a while when I feel it.

Fear. A lot of it. From more than one person. More than one _human_.

I don't remember this when I was with Carlisle, but the more it grows, the less I can ignore it, leaving Edward with Bella to keep her safe while I investigate this feeling.

The hallway outside our door is empty, and I step into it without making too much noise. From here I can hear Rosalie and Alice's voices as they whisper so softly that I can barely detect them.

I have to strain to listen, but what I hear doesn't surprise me.

"You should've told Carlisle everything you saw in the beginning," Rosalie hisses to her coven mate who may as well be her sister. "You've been watching for this for months."

"He didn't know that until today!" Alice hisses back. "How was I supposed to know for sure what Edward's power was? I only saw the girl and Jasper. I saw fire and someone on fire. I couldn't piece it together until now. Be careful with him. Esme told you to stop scowling at them."

I know what they're doing without seeing them as they prepare the humans with them for feeding all of us. I move down the hallway enough to feel at least seven humans with them — but two of them were not here until today. It's their fear I'm feeling. It's a boy and a girl from the village, and they've been drugged to be brought here.

This is a common practice among vampires who do not wish to hunt for their food. I don't always like thinking of humans this way, and I know Carlisle doesn't either. It's the lesser of two evils, especially when considering all the noise a frightened human can make when they're running from a predator. When I was with Carlisle but still working to master my ability, I had been given the task of keeping our humans relaxed. It was an arduous task, and an exhausting one at that.

Why didn't they ask me to help them? If I'm a member of their coven now, the opposite of what Carlisle said earlier is also true. What I have they can use to survive. It's how we survived before I left.

"Damn it, he urinated himself," Rosalie grumbles.

Alice follows suit, releasing the human in her hands. "I'll start the bath. Watch them."

A door down the hallway opens, and Alice steps out, turning to see me there and stopping in her tracks. She doesn't say anything, and neither do I. I've surprised her, and not in a good way.

Rosalie comes out then, obviously to inquire as to why Alice has stopped, and then she sees me and huffs loudly. "Well, are you going to help or not?" she demands.

I know this is Rosalie's way, and without waiting for at least a polite request, I move closer to them and then step into the room where the boy and girl are being kept. They're even more afraid of me, but I change that quickly, sitting at the girl's side as she watches me with new wonder in her blue eyes.

"It's all right," I soothe. Then I look at the boy. "Everything is all right. You're both safe here."

That settles everything, and while I hold the girl closer to keep her calm, Alice comes in for the boy and takes him across the room for a bath. Rosalie just stands and watches.

About ten minutes pass, and Alice returns with the boy as he walks naked in front of her. She gives him clothes and then moves around to where I'm sitting.

"Jasper," she says laying her hand over my shoulder. I look at her, and she lifts her palm to my cheek. "I've missed you."

I speak more honestly to her than I did the last time I saw her when I left. "I've missed you as well."

She smiles and steps back to Rosalie's side so they can tend to the other humans who are already accustomed to being here. They leave without saying anything, and I don't move from the bed as the boy sits down across from me.

At least while I'm here, I'll have some sort of function.

* * *

_**I'd say that was unexpected, right? Or maybe it wasn't. I'm feeling it out for right now, so let me know what you think.**_

_**And chapters from Edward, yes, no?  
**_

_**It's not too late, but I've got that other job that pays for the expensive crap in my room to get to, so this will be all for now.  
**_

_**Goodnight!  
**_


	9. Initiation

_**Good Morning! Peel your eyes open to read the chapter in front of you! I had to.  
**_

_**Confession: I had chapters from Edward's perspective planned all along, I just didn't know how they were going to go down. And after this one, there will be more, so let's see what you think.  
**_

_**A few people expressed interest, so maybe this won't be completely unexpected - as far as perspective anyway. Content might be a whole different issue. So forget everything you thought you knew about kind, compassionate Carlisle. I never claimed he would make an appearance in my story.  
**_

_**I don't own Twilight. But I'm trading in her powdered donuts for some chocolate-covered ones.  
**_

_**This is also un-beta'd, so any lingering mistakes are all mine.  
**_

_**Again, this is from Edward's perspective.  
**_

* * *

_**Initiation**_

Since I've opened my eyes for the first time to my life with Jasper, nothing else has ever made more sense than being with him. Being a vampire only means I have to be careful and smart. But with Jasper, my needs and wants are simple. He is all I need or want. The idea of being near other vampires usually terrifies me, and it is only because it cannot be avoided that I've allowed myself to become accustomed to Carlisle and Alice. Esme isn't bad either, but I know she still harbors deep feelings for Jasper that have still not been resolved because of his departure. She loves him like a brother and a best friend, but there is something deeper that lingers near the surface of her mind when she is near him. Rosalie and Emmett are another matter altogether, but I knew they will not harm me.

No, it's Alice and Carlisle I worry over the most. They pose the greatest threat to me, and therefore I have to keep an eye on them. Alice is only interested in keeping us here. She misses Jasper and wants him with her even though I already know by her thoughts that she has been mated to Carlisle for nearly two hundred years. And Carlisle . . . well, he scares me most of all.

Before we found Bella only a day ago, everything made sense.

Now, I don't know what to make sense of first.

I care for her. I love her. I cannot stay away from her. I have never felt this way in all of my existence. I'm so protective of her that I can't leave her when Jasper leaves to help Alice and Rosalie tend to their new humans. They've brought them from several miles away so no one in town will recognize them. I am not hungry right now, but tonight, I know what Carlisle wants. Tonight, he wants us to gorge ourselves. He means for us to kill the two humans he's brought us. I know this because he showed it to me. It's what happened when he found Emmett and then Alice. Carlisle doesn't approve of killing humans to survive, so finding a mate who can manipulate the human body has been helpful to him. But once in a while, he condones the death of humans as a part of ceremony.

This is not preferable to me. The woman and man I killed last night were both lustful and criminal. I could see it in their minds, and I had no problem whatsoever taking their lives. But the two humans selected for me and Jasper have neither committed any crimes nor partaken in any intimate activities of any kind.

But I know this is why Carlisle chose them.

The purer they are, the better. This is what he thinks of the action of inducting us into his coven.

Bella's tiny body moves against mine as we lay in the bed given to us and Jasper, and when I lean back to look at her, she lifts her hands to grasp onto my shirt.

"You're nervous," she says to me. "I don't know how, but I can sense it. What's the matter?"

I hold her closer, trying to protect her even from myself. "It's not for you to worry over," I whisper. "You're safe here, and no matter what you might see or hear, it won't change anything."

"You don't like Carlisle," she adds.

Her thoughts center around the last encounter she heard of us, of me yelling at Carlisle and embarrassing myself horribly. But then she's thinking of the encounter she had with him while Jasper and I were alone not long after arriving.

While she'd been with Rosalie and Alice, looking at dresses and shoes, Carlisle came back from his journey through town where he found the werewolves. I remember now that he was curious about her ability after discovering the beasts west of town, but now I know why as her memory of him shows me how he watched her with Rosalie and Alice and even inquired about her attachment to me and Jasper. A literal image of fire in her eyes astonishes me, but it also causes me to feel even more protective of her.

He meant her no harm, clearly, but he acted again on his instinct, which is to sample nearly every power within his midst. I know the longer I'm near him, the more of my ability he'll retain, but if I leave, it will dissipate over time, just as Jasper's did.

"He will not harm you, Bella," I whisper to her. "He is merely curious, and as a vampire, it's all he knows. But he will respect your boundaries — and mine. He knows he cannot have your ability, but it will not stop him from wanting it. I will protect you. I swear."

She lifts her hands to my face, and instantly, I shake with chills. My skin erupts in gooseflesh, and images from her mind fill mine instantly.

Her mother would comb her hair every night and then braid it every morning. They worked in the garden every day, growing corn and turnips, tomatoes and greens. Her father brought home game from town, and they would feast on it for days. A boy in town smiled at her every time he saw her when she had an occasion to visit her father at the sheriff's station. No one has ever kissed her, and it has been so long since anyone touched her the way Jasper and I have.

Now that I've been within her presence nearly twenty-four hours, I'm able to see so deep into her mind. She has not always lived in this area. Her parents moved here from the southwest when they were unable to tolerate the summers filled with dry heat and no water. She was but a baby when they settled here, and the cool, green moisture drew them in immediately. Her memories grow from those of a toddler to one of a small girl, but the date remains a mystery.

She is not older than I am. I can sense that much, which is odd, since my senses aren't usually attuned to someone else's age.

The tip of her nose touches mine, and our lips are so close that I can feel her breath mingling with mine when Alice knocks on the door.

_Gosh, I hope they're not asleep._

I rise up as the door opens, and Alice steps inside the room slowly. She smiles when she sees us and moves closer to sit behind me.

"Everything's nearly ready," she says with a light laugh. "Carlisle wants to make sure you're all right before we get started. And you can help get Bella settled before you come into the dining room."

I look at Bella, seeing in her thoughts that she has begun to bond with Alice and Rosalie already. She'll be all right while we sit with everyone else.

"Give me a few minutes," I say to Alice.

She glances at Bella and then me, her thoughts centered on how much she wishes for me and Jasper to trust her and Carlisle.

A tall order, indeed.

The next minute that passes is silent, and Alice leaves without saying anything else. I sit up, and Bella follows me.

"You're going to leave me here," she says in a matter-of-fact tone.

I lift my hands to her face. "You'll be safe here. We shouldn't be long, and then I'm sure they'll find you something to eat."

Her tiny hands wrap around my wrists, and without any warning in her thoughts or her body language, she leans in and presses her soft, pink lips to mine. No other lips have ever felt like this in the three hundred years, not even Jasper's, and for the slightest second, I'm afraid. I nudge her away, meaning to disconnect the two of us and unknowingly frightening her.

"I have to go," I say quietly. "I'm sure Alice or Rosalie will bring you something eat. Jasper and I will be back later."

Gently, I caress her cheek, wanting to reassure her. But I don't know what to say, rising from her side slowly and leaving the room silently.

My confusion over what has just happened builds the entire time I'm walking away from the room and toward another part of the apartment that is apparently meant for consuming food — human or otherwise.

Not once in the last day have I felt the need to be so delicate with Bella's emotions, and not once has she indicated that she feels such things for me. She's so fragile despite this fiery ability residing within her small frame. It's unclear to me how I allowed any of this to happen, but it's obviously my fault, especially since I'm the one who found her.

She has latched onto me the most, of course, but I had no desire to be this close to her. I wanted to protect her and care for her, yes, but Jasper is my mate. There's no reason for me to change that.

The thoughts filling Alice's head capture my attention first, as she's repeating the scene of Bella kissing me over and over. Her vision from earlier is still ingrained into my mind, and it frightens me that all of this may be for naught. All of Carlisle's promises, all of his precautions, all of his words might not save us. Alice was very clear of that, and so was he in all the implications of my connection to Bella.

It all rests on my shoulders.

A light laugh drifts from the dining room. Rosalie is amused at Emmett's insistence that Jasper and I are no different from them in our affection for each other. She's thinking of the action and movements she shares with Emmett and can't seem to wrap her head around it until he grabs her bottom and then squeezes.

"Oh!"

The hiccup from her throat startles one of the humans — the one meant for me.

I turn into the room to discover it nearly as expansive as the living room area on the other end of the apartment. I do not understand how this place is so massive. It did not look so from the outside when I first approached it.

"Edward," Carlisle says, gesturing to a chair at his right while Jasper sits at his left. "Please."

Without hesitating, I move to my place and sit down.

There's no need to tell Carlisle why I'm the last to arrive. Alice has already told him what has transpired between me and Bella. It intrigues him that her vision has grown to include the possibility of me having two mates as he does. The idea unnerves me.

"Though this is unexpected," he begins, meaning my and Jasper's arrival with Bella, "it is no less welcome. I took Jasper under my guidance when he was new to this life, and it is with a great satisfaction that I welcome him back into my family." Carlisle pauses to acknowledge me. "And his mate. Edward. You are a unique individual, and I'm honored to know you. Please accept these as a token of my generosity and acceptance of you and Jasper to our coven." He gestures to the boy and girl who've been brought for this purpose, and without a pause, the two young humans move toward us.

The girl is probably seventeen with dark hair and dark eyes. Her skin is creamy white and impossibly smooth. She should be frightened, but I know Jasper has prevented her and the boy from experiencing the emotion altogether. Gently, she lays her hand over my shoulder and then proceeds to sit over my lap as the boy stands beside Jasper in anticipation of what is about to happen.

I'm about to pull her to me when Carlisle speaks unexpectedly.

"Before we complete this impromptu ceremony," he says, "two things must be done."

I try to see what he's planning, but his thoughts are jumbled for the slightest moment as he rises and moves closer to me. My anxiety increases, and I can feel my heart hammering against my chest.

He's planning to do something without allowing me to know what it is, but before he can act, Jasper shouts.

"Carlisle, don't. It's unnecessary."

The elder vampire doesn't listen, moving swiftly and grabbing my head to yank it backward and expose my neck to his fangs as they descend instantly. They're longer and sharper than Jasper's, and they cut through my muscle so easily and smoothly that no blood flowing through my body is wasted. Then I feel all of it leaving my body.

First, I lose feeling in my fingers and then my arms. I'm immobilized by the intense sinking feeling as it tugs my body closer to him, and every muscle in my body is burning with fire not unlike that of what I felt when Bella burned me the day before. Carlisle's thoughts and memories are transferred to me in the exchange, and I see him doing this to Jasper upon their first time coming together — when it all began over four hundred years ago.

It's in this moment that I know what's happening, but it does nothing to calm my reaction. Helplessly, I grab Carlisle's wrist as he tugs on my hair, breaking his bone in the process and grasping onto the back of his neck as he releases my flesh to leave barely enough blood in me to stay conscious. He quickly cuts his other wrist and lays it over my mouth, completing his act of making me a part of his coven as I sink my own fangs into his muscle to take back what was just stolen from me.

This has never been done to me, but I'm more at ease with it than I should be. I should be angry, insulted and incensed, but I'm not. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Alice soothing his broken wrist until it begins to heal. The bones regenerate swiftly, and he lays his fingers over my head to stroke my hair. Chills thrill up and down my spine, and he pulls his wrist away when he feels that I've taken enough.

He strokes my cheek and leans in to whisper despite there being six other vampires who will hear him. "Welcome to the family."

With that, he allows the girl to sit in front of me again and returns to his chair. Jasper's eyes have not left me, and his pulse is erratic as he watches me. There's a pleading in his eyes and an apology for not realizing what was happening until it was too late. I shake my head, silently telling him not to worry.

Alice moves to my side and wipes my neck dry, but she doesn't say anything, also apologizing for not alerting me of this. The blood in me feels strange — even more so than when I've bitten Jasper. My only guess is that because Carlisle is so much older than me, his blood must be different.

"It takes a little while for it to settle," he says, gazing at me appreciatively. I know now that while I've seen his thoughts and memories, he has also seen mine.

I should feel violated, especially since all of those memories involve Jasper in one way or another. But I only feel allegiance and acceptance.

Esme appears at Carlisle's side, and he wraps his arm around her waist while exhaling as if he is now sated after a big meal. Her power makes a silent appearance, appeasing Carlisle's loss of blood by manipulating his body to make more. His eyes thank her, and she strokes his cheek before looking at me and nodding.

"Please," he says, gesturing to the girl in front of me. "Just this once, take all you need."

Hesitating a little, I glance at Jasper to see him waiting for me to follow first. He's still upset about what his former teacher has just forced me to do, but honestly, it doesn't feel like that at all. In fact, it makes sense. If we'd met any other group of vampires, who's to say the same thing would not have happened?

"Yes," Jasper huffs. "But at least then I would've expected it."

Carlisle glances at him, relaxed and pleased, but he doesn't respond. I turn my attention to the girl as she remains silent at my mercy. She's still not frightened, despite having just watched such a horrific thing, and I decide to take full advantage of her presence, leaning closer to kiss her neck and then her mouth.

She moans softly against my lips, grasping onto my shoulder tighter.

"Edward," Jasper nearly chastises.

His voice pierces the soft bubble of obedience, but for only a moment as Carlisle rises and proceeds to do the same to him that was just done to me. I move in before Jasper's anger can rise, clamping my teeth around the girl's neck muscle and holding her to me to drain her blood into my body while Carlisle re-initiates his former student back into his coven.

Jasper succeeds in shattering Carlisle's forearm, but it only lasts a moment before he also takes the blood from Carlisle's other wrist to finish his process. This time, Esme helps her mate with his bruised limb while my mate reels from what we've been put through, but like me, he feels only loyalty and understanding.

The limp body in my arms is taken away by Rosalie, and Jasper drains the boy in even less time before Emmett steps in to clear away the body. It's at this point that four other humans enter the dining room, but I can see already that they're accustomed to being with the midst of these vampires.

Alice and Esme take chairs on the other side of Rosalie and Emmett, and as we sit there, the four humans, two young men and two young women all offer their wrists to their respective recipients. The scene is a little odd to me, but Jasper seems to know this is how things will be done from now on. With Esme's ability to manipulate the human body, the four humans are good as new when enough of their blood has been taken, and they all leave without any prompting.

"Rosalie," Carlisle says once we're all alone again. "You and Alice will tend to Bella. Emmett will work through the night preparing this house our newest members have found. With any luck, there will be enough room for us all."

Neither Rosalie nor Alice waits for further instruction, leaving the dining room quickly to perform their new task. Emmett and Esme follow for no other reason than an unspoken understanding, and then it's just me, Jasper and Carlisle.

"That went much better than I anticipated," Carlisle says, still sated and now more relaxed than he was before he bit Jasper.

"You shouldn't have done that," Jasper shouts. "He wasn't ready. You could've killed him, Carlisle!"

The elder vampire scoffs and rolls his eyes, looking at me. "Jasper, you're too emotional for your own good," he says in a dismissive tone. While still looking at me, Carlisle bites his lip and grins.

Embarrassing images of him with his hands all over me fill my head, and I blush helplessly, looking away.

"He deserved a little warning," Jasper presses.

Carlisle doesn't argue but doesn't agree. He's silent for a minute before speaking again. "This way, Aro will not be able to sway you to his side if you're captured. Now that the bonding is nearly complete, my scent will protect you. We've a long task in front of us, and some rest will do us all good."

Jasper doesn't wait, rising and leaving without a glance in my direction. I'm not worried. He's more angry at Carlisle than the fact that it's been done without properly preparing us for what it will entail.

"He'll calm down soon enough," Carlisle assures me. "He was angry after Alice's initiation as well."

He's looking at me now the same way he looked at Jasper earlier when I became so angry at him for implying Bella's eventual death, and his thoughts toward me now are nothing if not suggestive the same as they were when he was showing me his activities with Jasper when they first bonded. It no longer angers me, but surely, he must know it's a losing battle to think I could be that way with him.

"There's a first time for everything," he grins. After a split second, he rises and moves to my side again, pulling me to my feet to face him.

I have no more defenses against him as he steps as close to me as he can without touching me and then does just that, cupping my face in his hands and leaning forward until his nose and lips are mere centimeters from mine.

Then before he touches my lips with his, he whispers.

"I need you to do something for me, Edward. And you mustn't tell Jasper that I've requested it."

He doesn't speak again, but his thoughts are clear.

Demetri and Felix are much closer than he told us. They'll be here much sooner than he's told us. I have to leave with Bella now. Alice and Rosalie are getting her ready now. Emmett will take us somewhere safe. Esme will keep Jasper from knowing by —

"No," I shout, and he stops me, clamping his hand over my mouth and whispering again.

"He'll be safe." Once they've taken care of Demetri and Felix, they'll leave town and go to the closest coven of vampires who share Carlisle's hatred of Aro.

I want to protest, but I can't. Carlisle is right. There's no time to waste.

* * *

_**Can Carlisle be trusted? Surely, he wouldn't put Edward or Bella in any danger just to have Jasper back. Right?**_

_**Okay, I know the answer to that question, but I'm not spilling. *laughing deviously while rubbing my hands together*  
**_

_**Along with new vampires, there are new vampire rules, and in my twisted universe, this is how new, already made vampires are initiated into established covens. We should all know how a human becomes part of a coven - they get turned into a vampire. So this might mean that Alice and Emmett had already been created when Carlisle found them, like with Jasper.  
**_

_**It's not too much info, is it?  
**_

_**Anyway, everybody have a great day, and do something fun!  
**_


	10. Attemping Escape

_**Okay, so I know we're not happy about what's happening, but I promise there's a light at the of the tunnel. But what good things don't get worse before they get better?  
**_

_**I don't own Twilight. But I'm seriously considering buying an iPad. Any arguments?  
**_

_**This is also un-beta'd, so any mistakes you see are mine.  
**_

* * *

_**Attempting Escape**_

It's more difficult than I thought to control the fear rising up my spine as Carlisle directs me away from the dining room to where Alice and Rosalie have dressed Bella in heavier clothes and boots for traveling. Emmett is pulling on a heavy coat, and I know the intention is for anyone in town to see him leaving with me and Bella. Once we're outside and away from prying eyes, he'll use his ability to get us further away, but he's not thinking of where. Something tells me he's doing this on purpose now.

Bella doesn't look scared or worried, but she's wondering where Jasper has gone. Alice and Rosalie have told her of our departure, but they've been vague as to whether Jasper is coming with us. The moment she sees me with Carlisle, she knows it's just me and her.

Rosalie holds out a heavy jacket for me, and I pull it on slowly, uncomfortable and wary of being away from Jasper for the first time in three hundred years. I know he won't understand this even if he'll know it's necessary for us to be safe. The way we're being taken from the apartment is underhanded and insensitive, but I've learned in a short period of time that this is how Carlisle operates where his plight against Aro is concerned.

"Emmett will take you to a safe location," Carlisle tells me as we all move away from the living room of the apartment toward the stairs that lead to the shop as it sets dark. "When we've done away with the guards, he'll come for you."

We make it outside, and I see that it's stopped raining now that the sun has ended its reign over the sky.

"Edward," Carlisle says, making me look at him. "You'll need to remain calm on this journey. Some things will happen that will rival your instincts to protect yourself. But I swear that I would not put you in any danger."

My eyes find Bella's, and I agree easily. "I understand," I nod.

He turns his attention to Emmett, and Alice passes Bella to me before she and Rosalie return to the shop. I've noticed Esme's absence, but I know where she is. I know she's keeping Jasper with her so Carlisle will be able to get me and Bella away. This isn't something that I appreciate. I want Jasper with us even if I know it's not safe right now.

There are no more words to be said as Emmett takes his place beside me and takes my arm in his big hand. I hold Bella close to me, knowing that Emmett is using his ability to get us away from the town. We walk away without so much as a goodbye to Carlisle as he watches.

A few businesses in town are still open, and their golden yellow lights illuminate the darkened dirt/mud road through the middle of town. I don't know if anyone sees us, but it takes minutes to get to the edge of town. It's muddy and cold, but Bella never complains. Her thoughts are still on Jasper, but she's holding me as tightly as she can.

Emmett hides us behind a tree and instantly transports us from the woods south of town to another wooded area that is decidedly less developed.

"Where are we?" Bella asks softly, pressing her cheek to my chest.

I'm disoriented, but I can hear water rushing nearby. The air is salty and heavier than it was in town, and even with the ability to see in the dark, I can barely make out anything but the trees surrounding us.

"Carlisle doesn't believe in old rivalries," Emmett says as he leads us toward the water slowly. "And he doesn't care about rules that were laid down because of old prejudices."

Rivalries? Prejudices?

"Werewolves," I say without a minute passing. "But they're dangerous! And it's a full moon!"

Instantly, a loud, piercing howl cuts through the air, and just as Carlisle said, my instincts are thrown into high gear. Despite Emmett's larger size, I hold Bella tighter and back away from him. But I don't make it far.

The growl that reaches my ears stops me in my tracks, and I turn to see three large wolves staring me down. I push Bella behind me as the wolf in front saunters toward me.

"Don't move," Emmett orders. "They won't hurt you."

There's nothing more I can do as the wolf before me demands all my attention.

His overpowering heat threatens to envelop my entire body, but something shocking happens as his thoughts permeate my mind.

_Kneel, Vampire._

I obey instantly, pushing Bella away and dropping to my knees. Emmett's insistence is plain, and I know I shouldn't do anything to anger the wolf in front of me.

His snout touches my forehead and then my brow. It's clear that he's using his enhanced senses to verify that I'm not just any vampire. And because Carlisle just bit me and gave me his blood, I know exactly what this wolf will smell.

The verification process ends abruptly, and the wolf backs away from me only half a moment before the brush around us breaks under pressure. I smell fire burning, and three torches being carried by three copper-skinned, dark-haired women appear from behind coverage several dozen feet away.

"You've risked a lot to bring them here," the woman in front tells Emmett.

"We're running out of time," he replies. "And it's important for them to be safe. If everything's goes as planned, I'll return for them before the first cycle. Just remember what Carlisle said, Emily. You protect us. We protect you."

She grins but then smirks, moving closer to me as I'm still knelt to the ground. When she extends her hand to me, I'm stunned to discover her gentle and accepting. The two women with her surround me and Bella, and I turn my eyes to Emmett. He nods, silently telling me it's all right, and I return his nod before he disappears into thin air.

"Come with us," Emily says, pulling me and Bella away from the wolves as they remain stoic and guarded.

I don't argue, keeping Bella close and following our guide quickly.

The darkened woods hinder none of us as we walk through the thick coverage to come upon a small village with two rows of wooden houses in front of a large wooden building with a massive totem placed in front of it. A large fire burns in front of the building, and three elderly men are standing on the steps that lead into the building.

Emily leads the way to where they're waiting, and the tallest one moves closer as she stops and gestures for us to stand before him.

"We've been expecting you," he says. "Carlisle came to us and said you would be here soon. My name is William. Are you Edward?"

I nod. "Yes, sir," I acknowledge, grasping onto Bella's hand.

"Our village should keep you safe," he swears. "And we've prepared a space for you that should protect you from the coming light. But first, I'm afraid you'll need to destroy the clothes you're wearing. Emily will take you inside to change."

I glance at her, and she nods to the building behind William. She leads me and Bella inside, to a room in the back and then a set of boards in the floor that open up to stairs. There's no need to question what's happening, and we follow her into a small room under the building.

Once there, Emily takes Bella to a smaller room where a small fire is burning in an iron hearth. I wait for her to return to me, and when she does, I know what she wants. So I don't hesitate, disrobing slowly and giving her the clothes off my back. There are a few instances when she cannot hide her curiosity and gazes over my naked flesh, but her thoughts are mostly innocent, and then they're gone.

"There are clothes in the chest for you," she says with my clothes meant for burning in her arms. "We washed and dried them as Carlisle told us to. I'll help her, and then you'll be left to rest for the remainder of the night."

This is the last thing she says to me before leaving to perform her next task of assisting Bella. I find pants and a shirt, changing as I wait for Emily to leave, and once she does, I find Bella in the small room dressed in a pure white, cotton gown with her hair down. She steps closer to me, but I don't say anything, pulling her into my arms and holding her against me. We have a long wait ahead of us, and right now, I care for nothing more than Bella's safety.

The space around us includes a small bathing room and a bedroom, and though she slept most of the afternoon, I know Bella is still very tired. There's warm water in the bathroom, and after helping Bella pull her hair back, we wash her face and then lay down on the bed. She falls asleep in my arms, and I follow her shortly after that. I wish Jasper was here, and I'm worried about what he'll do when he realizes what's happened.

I don't know how long I sleep, but it's Bella's gentle caress of my brow that wakes me to the golden amber light of the hearth as it still burns brightly. When I open my eyes, I see her in front of me, and with little warning, she leans in and presses her lips to mine the same way she did earlier. But it doesn't surprise me the way it did before.

It feels normal, natural.

Her gentle caress becomes more persistent as she moves ever closer to me, and her tiny body feels so fragile in my hands. Just a day ago, I was laying her arms after just finding her, but this feels so much more different. Her arms encircle my neck and shoulders, and instinctively, I grasp onto her waist and then her back.

Though I've been with women, been inside them and then fed on them, it was all very detached and methodical. A means to an end, especially because I am so young and have desires that Jasper cannot always quell. I love him and always want to be loved by him, but even he senses this desire and does nothing to suppress it. He knows it is simply something that exists, and to fight it would mean causing me pain. Jasper could never hurt me.

But Bella is so innocent and delicate. What I feel for her is so different, and before Carlisle bit me, I could fight it. No more.

"Edward," she whispers, her soft voice pleading with me to acknowledge that she has not only found a place in my heart, but also I have found a place in hers.

I pressed my forehead to hers, seeing thoughts of her mother and father, and me and Jasper, and I knew how much she needed me to be here with her. Not wanting to cause her discomfort from the weight of my body on hers, I tried to remain on my forearms even while she pulled me closer.

"You won't leave me," she pleads, cupping my face in her small hands. "Swear it, Edward."

I kiss her on my own this time, caressing her cheek gently. "I won't leave you," I promise.

The screaming startles us both, and we have very little time to react when the door leading to where we're laying flies open to allow hurried entrants to our hiding place.

Two of the women from before, other than Emily rush into the room. Their thoughts are scattered, terrified and angry, and I know instantly that something has gone wrong.

"You must go," one of them pleads. "They know you're here. If you leave now, you can get away."

I don't understand, but I don't question her, gathering Bella up and following them out of the space under the building. A door leading outside is open and pointing away from the village. Grasping Bella's hand, I glance at the women, but they say nothing, gesturing for me to go quickly. So without another word, I lift Bella in my arms to hold her close and run out the door. I'm much faster than nearly every vampire I've ever met, and I know I can get far before we're found.

Bella never utters a word, holding me tight and pressing her face to my neck as I slice through the darkness in no direction in particular. I don't recognize the area around me, but surely if I run far enough, I'll find the town and Carlisle. Jasper.

But then something happens that I don't expect as the trees begin cropping up around me in places that do not make sense. The forest seems to be growing around me, and within minutes, I can no longer run without the fear of hitting a tree head on with Bella in my arms. A figure appears to my right, and I try to run, but then it's on my left. I have to stop to get my bearings back, but as soon as I do, the figure converges on me at a speed that is impossible — unless it's a vampire.

The sky is still dark, but the air has changed its smell. Dawn is not so far away anymore, and even though I can see no stars and therefore know it is still clouded, this does not assure me of anything.

"Edward," Bella whispers, holding me tighter as the figure approaches us more quickly with each step until I know it's a very large, very tall man in a cloak.

I need no clues to tell me who this is. I saw his face in Carlisle's mind.

Felix.

And now I know what he has done to me.

The screaming wasn't real, nor were the women who showed us out of the village.

It was a trick to get me away from the wolves. And I believed it, like an idiot.

"Please," I whisper. "Do not hurt her."

Felix grins but says nothing.

A new presence makes itself known behind me, and I hold Bella closer as another vampire steps around to be in front of me. I know his face too.

Demetri.

"You'll come with us," he informs me, "and neither of you will be harmed. Unless you wish for the coming light to burn you where you stand."

I have no choice but to follow him as he and Felix lead me and Bella away from the woods. This makes no sense. They weren't supposed to be here until in the morning. Carlisle said —

He lied to me.

He knew they were coming and would be here before he could convince either of us to help him. So he made it absolutely impossible for me to deny his claim. But how does this help keep us safe? If he knew these guards would sense me before they sensed him.

After a long walk, we find ourselves at a port where several ships have been docked.

"This will please Aro much more than any report from Carlisle," Demetri says as we walk to the end of the port as a steam ship is waiting for us. "We knew he was collecting new members, but a human is another matter altogether."

"How did you find us?" I ask suddenly. "And the wolves."

"Those beasts are no matter to us, and even their horrible stench wasn't enough to hide her from me. And you have Carlisle's scent all over you. We were waiting for him to make a mistake, and now it looks as though he has."

When we reach the end of the port and have to board the ship, we're surrounded by three more vampires — two females and a male. Neither Bella nor I are restrained, but we're taken below deck to a state room where we're locked in and left alone.

"Where are we going?" Bella asks softly, clinging to me with all ten of her fingers.

"I don't know," I say honestly. "But I won't let them hurt you. I swear. Just stay close to me, and I'll protect you."

She huddles next to me as I back us into a corner and hold her behind me so no one will be able to take her from me. Almost as soon as I sit down, I'm overcome with the need to shut my eyes. I try to fight it, but it's impossible. A shiver shakes my body, and Bella grasps onto my hands tighter than she has yet. But it's no use. The floor is opening up and swallowing me whole.

And then there's nothing.

The next time I open my eyes, I'm not longer in the state room, and I'm alone. Instead, I find myself in a large, ornately decorated room with old world lounges, desks and chairs across the room from a four-poster bed laden in a golden duvet. The first thing I do is run to the door, but it's locked, and even with my strength, I can't open it.

"Bella!" I yell. "Bella!"

An unseen door slides open, and from behind it appears the one man I never wished to see again since the last time when Jasper claimed me in front of him.

"It's so good to see you again, Edward," he says with a fake smile on his face.

"Aro," I gasp.

He moves closer to me, and I back away from him.

"Where's Bella?"

"Your human? She's safe. As are you."

"Where is she?" I demand.

He shakes his head. "Do not worry, my friend. She'll be here shortly. She has a very intriguing ability, doesn't she?"

His thoughts show me a succession of images as he tried to determine how extensive Bella's ability was by having her burn one of his coven members to very brink of death before his own body manipulator healed them completely.

"Please," I whisper. "Don't hurt her. She's innocent, I swear."

He waves me off with a shrug. "She is in no danger. I would never harm anyone so unique. She would make an intriguing addition to our family, don't you think?"

His words ignite my anger, but before I can allow it to grow, he lays his hand over my face and sends a crippling vision through my head so quickly that it drops me to the floor.

In it, I see Bella hard, cold, dead, but she's not a vampire. She's no longer immortal. My heart is hardened by her death, and nothing anyone does will heal me. I will not survive losing her.

This is Aro's way of having my submission.

Whatever he asks me to do, he knows I'll do it — even if it means my own death.

* * *

_**And I'll bet NO ONE likes Carlisle right about now, huh? He's not behaving. We'll get him turned around.**_

_**And the next chapter will be in Jasper's POV before we hammer out a new posting pattern.  
**_

_**See you next week!  
**_


	11. Survival Instincts

_**Switching back to Jasper to find out how he's handling what happened to Edward, and needless to say, it isn't pretty. And I know we're not happy with Carlisle, but it's a work in progress.  
**_

_**Thanks for all the alerts, favs and reviews, cause good or bad, they all make me smile.  
**_

_**I don't own Twilight. But I do own all the books, so that means I get to screw with the whole world.  
**_

_**This is also un-beta'd, so any lingering mistakes are all mine.  
**_

* * *

_**Survival Instincts**_

To say that I'm furious with Carlisle for his method of not only getting me out of his way but also manipulating Edward into doing his bidding is not quite enough to express how completely incensed I became when I realized what was happening.

As soon as Esme came to me after I stormed out of the dining room, I knew something wasn't right. I obviously hadn't expected her to overpower me so quickly, but I'd been so angry with Carlisle that it had obviously been easy for her to gain enough of my trust for her ability to work.

Now that Edward is gone with Bella, it has all become too clear to me.

Alice knew we were coming. She told Carlisle of our arrival, and from then, he planned to use us in his quest against Aro. I have been merely a chess piece for him to move around as he pleases, and now Edward and Bella have been captured by Demetri and Felix.

I don't know what infuriates me more — being used or knowing that Carlisle meant to put Edward in Aro's path this entire time. And more than that, I'm now terrified that I might never see Edward or Bella again. She is completely innocent in all of this, and Carlisle used her like her life doesn't even matter. And Edward will do anything he can to keep her safe, even if it means putting his own life in danger.

This couldn't feel any more like the worst mistake of my life than it already does.

"Everything will be all right, Jasper," Esme says as she sits with me in the room that was meant for me, Edward and Bella. "Aro won't hurt Edward. He won't hurt Bella. They're too unique."

I know she's staying with me only because I won't let any of the others near me. Emmett and Rosalie have steered clear of me, and with good reason. Almost as soon as I woke to the knowledge that I'd been tricked and lied to, I'd taken out almost all of my anger out on Alice. I knew from her anxiety that something had been wrong, and the fear in her eyes had only been exacerbated by the way she kept telling me to stay calm. It seemed in my awakening that I had begun to project the strongest of my emotions onto all those around me. And when I could not feel Edward or Bella anywhere nearby, Alice had been the only thing standing in my way to find them.

That is, until Carlisle stopped me from ripping her heart out.

He'd used my own ability against me, crippling me with even more fear, but it had been for my own life by his hands.

Several hours have passed.

Edward is gone. Bella is gone.

And I have no one to blame but myself.

"Have you calmed down?"

Carlisle's voice grates on my nerves, and when I look at him, I cannot hide my new feelings toward him.

"I hate you."

This doesn't phase him in the slightest. He steps closer slowly, obviously aware that I'm still angry with him but not caring at all. In an attempt to comfort me, Esme still rubs my back and holds my hand. I'm only allowing her to stay close because I couldn't hurt her even if a strange force overcame me and tried to coerce me into it. I'm already sorry for harming Alice. Of all the vampires I know, they are the most gentle and the most innocent.

Carlisle nods for her to leave, and after giving me a pleading look in her eyes, she obeys. Once it's just the two of us, he kneels in front of me, but he makes no moves to comfort me.

"This was necessary, Jasper," he says softly, almost as an apology.

It's not good enough.

"I know where Edward and Bella have been taken," he adds.

This warrants my attention, and the moment he has it, a deep sigh passes his lips. "It's true. I knew you were coming. I knew Bella would be with you, and I used you to do this. And I know it's not enough, but causing you this pain was worth having the ability to take Aro down. I told you, he's been in power for too long. He punishes those who do not deserve punishing, and no one questions him because of his power. When I found Tanya, I discovered a vampire who had the ability to resist him."

"Where are they?" I ask, ignoring everything else he's just said.

Another deep sigh escapes. "For now, they'll be kept in one of the claiming rooms. While Aro observes them. He won't harm them. I know from Edward's memories that Aro was too intrigued be his ability to cause him any suffering. And I saw deeper into Bella's mind than Edward was able. I know how she's survived all this time, Jasper. Aro won't be able to harm her, no matter what he shows Edward to coax his submission."

"How do you know that?" I ask with a shake of my head.

"It's because Bella isn't the one who killed her parents," he reveals. "Her ability isn't what killed them. They were already dead when her fire manifested. But it's been more than two hundred years since that happened. Her memories are so much more jumbled than they should be. That's why I wanted to touch her, Jasper. I can help her control her ability. Right now, it's her survival method. It's how she protects herself and pushes away those she doesn't trust. I never wanted to harm her. Now, Aro will try to turn her into a weapon. And I don't know what he'll do to Edward once that's been done."

"Then why did you do this?" I yell. I rise from where I'm sitting to tower over him, and after a few seconds, he follows me. "I should've left as soon as I realized you were here! Perhaps they would've found us, perhaps they wouldn't have, but this is why I left you! You care for no one but yourself and your crusade, and now, it's cost me the one person in this life that I cannot live without! And you've put an innocent girl in the path of a power-hungry, manipulative mad man! You had no right to do this."

"I will not ask permission to use whatever means I must to make Aro suffer for all the atrocities he's forced on us!" Carlisle bellows. "I did this for you and Edward as much as I've done it for myself and everyone close to me."

"And what about Bella?" I demand. "Does she figure into your wondrous, beautiful future where vampires can run amuck and do as they please when you know it's Aro who's kept our numbers in check? Have you thought of her life in any of this?"

He backs away from me in a way that tells me he wasn't expecting me to care for a human more than members of my own species. But then his expression changes, as does his posture, and he regains control just as quickly as he lost it. "We're leaving for Tanya's coven as soon as possible," he commands. "It's a long run, and once we're with her, the journey to Volterra will take several days. If you want your mate back, you'll put your distaste for my methods aside and help us."

Watching him leave the room is enough to ignite my anger again, and I grab the first thing I find as a vase of flowers decorates the bedside table. I hurl it at the door with all my strength, shattering it to a million tiny pieces and leaving a dent in the wooden door.

He has no right to make demands of me. I have not lost my free will simply because he decided to perform a hasty bonding ceremony. Edward is my mate! And Bella is my responsibility!

This is when I know he's right.

I want my mate back, and I want Bella safe again.

Therefore, I must help him. It's the only way I'll get them back.

I'm alone for less than ten minutes when someone else knocks on the door. I can do nothing to hide my surprise when Alice steps through. The abrasions on her neck have disappeared, and her color has returned from being drained of nearly all her blood when I attacked her. My shame is impossible to deny, but her behavior makes it worse as she moves closer to me and sits where I've settled on the bed.

"I know you didn't mean to hurt me," she says softly. Then she lays her hand over my cheek. "After everything that's happened since we've met, I should've known better than to keep this from you. I'm sorry."

Gently, I lay my hand over hers, easing just a few centimeters closer to her and laying my forehead over hers. "I should not have taken my anger out on you. But this was not the way to gain my trust. Carlisle knew that, and he didn't care. Alice," I whisper, "you have to swear to me that if you see something happening to Edward or Bella, you'll tell me. Please."

She enfolds me in her arms and presses the side of her face to mine. "I'll keep my eyes on them as often as I can spare them," she promises.

Though these words do little to soothe me, I know she's being as honest with me as she knows how to be. Because she's Carlisle's mate, she'll be more inclined to follow his orders. But she's my friend, and I have to trust that after experiencing my anguish, she'll remember that the ones he's put in danger are more important to me and my survival than hers.

Her soft words work in keeping me calm, and together, we leave the room to join the rest of . . . our coven as they prepare to leave the apartment, and the town, quite possibly forever. Emmett and Rosalie are packing supplies into two large rucksacks, and Esme is helping Carlisle wrap a small box in plain brown paper.

They all look up when Alice steps into the room with me, but none of them say anything. I don't know if they have expected me to come around all this time, or if Carlisle has merely told them to accept my anger as a normal reaction to what he's done — and therefore to ignore all of my outbursts. Either way, they simply carry on in their activities, and Alice nudges me toward a table where other small boxes are waiting to be wrapped.

We all work quietly until I realize they're wrapping boxes filled with gold coins, valuable stones and expensive belongings from the apartment for the town around them. This seems useless to me, but when Carlisle senses my confusion, he speaks as amiably as possible.

"These people have been kind to us, Jasper," he says as he wraps another box. "And we owe them our gratitude. This is only a small thing we can do for them now that we won't be here with them. Once we're gone, they'll have to find another doctor, and the last thing I want is for any humans to suffer because of our absence."

His words surprise me, but considering he has a home here and probably wants to come back at some point, it makes sense that he would want to do what he can for the humans he's leaving behind. I only wish he'd shown that much consideration where Edward and Bella are concerned.

"Jasper," Carlisle says softly. "I'm doing this for all of us. Vampires like us and humans like Bella. I admit my methods weren't the best, but the more of us there are, the easier it will be to fight Aro. He's controlled us for too long, and I'm not doing this so all vampires will be able to kill humans and create newborns unchecked. But for you and Edward, Aro's ways must be stopped. And I fully intend to get Edward and Bella back."

"How?" I plead.

"Aro has guards," he reminds me. "But so do I. It's been many years since I've seen her, but she'll help us. The sooner we leave, the more quickly we'll reach Volterra. Until we make it there, she'll keep Edward and Bella safe."

Rosalie and Emmett close the rucksacks, and with a glance in my direction, they leave the apartment. I don't have to ask where they're going. In my unconsciousness, I know Carlisle has used all of the supplies Edward purchased at the hardware store. We'll leave most of the furniture at the house for when we return to the area, but it could be many years before that occurs.

It is again the middle of the night, and though I know this means that Edward and Bella have been gone for nearly a day, it also means we can make a clean break from the townspeople. If we waited until first light, it would be more easily seen that Carlisle has gone. The clouds seem to have remained, but it doesn't make me feel any more comfortable about traveling during the day.

So we're leaving now.

As soon as all the boxes are wrapped, Alice instructs me on where to leave them while Esme and Carlisle pack another set of supplies. While I've been out of their way, they've healed and released their humans, knowing they will not need to feed again until they're in the north country with Tanya's coven. So much has happened without my participation, and I feel useless even as I delivery the few boxes in my possession to their destinations.

When Edward disappeared from the safety of a local Indian tribe nearby, they informed Carlisle immediately. I know now that the werewolves protect them, and I know Carlisle has forged a protective agreement with them. This very thing is more unheard of than anything I've ever known, and I can't decide whether I should be terrified or expectant of his activities. He always did know how to keep everyone around him in the dark about what he was doing until he wanted them to know.

Carlisle and Esme meet me and Alice on the north side of town when we've finished our deliveries, and together, we walk the ten miles from there to the house where several of the apartments' contents now occupy the rooms that have been renovated. Rosalie and Emmett are waiting, and after Alice and I are given rucksacks of our own, we all leave the area, running as quickly as we can toward the northern most isolated area of the Alaskan territory. I know it's incorporation as a territory is still new, but it's also apparently very well hidden.

This has apparently worked to Tanya's advantage.

I can't think about Edward as I run. While I'm surrounded by Carlisle, Alice and everyone else, I have to focus on getting one foot in front of the other. The night covers us until we're halfway there, and we have to stop in an abandoned house for shelter while we wait for nightfall again. In my mind, I know our destination should only be less than twenty hours from our previous location. But stopping slows us down. I don't share space with Alice or Esme while we wait. For Edward and Bella, I won't keep anyone's company but theirs.

When we resume our journey, Carlisle again leads us through the wilderness. I carry the supplies on my back with my head down and my emotions in check. I'm worried but not so much anymore that it cripples me. I've had time to make it work to my advantage, and the cold barely bothers me. The farther north we run, the more animals scatter from our path. There are fewer people near our trail until it becomes obvious that the only way Tanya and her coven could survive would be by the blood of families who will eventually realize what's happening around them. This makes no sense to me.

_Everything will be explained when we arrive. _

Carlisle's voice in my head startles me, especially because Edward has never done it before. But I don't reply back. I simply keep running.

We arrive in the vicinity of Tanya's coven when I notice the clouded sky brightening with the coming of dawn, and it's within a minute of this that Carlisle stops under the dense canopy of the trees without so much as a warning. Rosalie and Emmett flank me and Alice as Esme steps up to Carlisle's side.

"Don't move," he orders. "It will only take a moment for her to realize we're here."

For some reason, I don't know if he means this literally or if it's merely a statement of fact, but less than a minute after we all stop, twigs and rocks around us crunch under the weight of heavily heeled shoes. My instincts tell me to protect myself and the one closest to me, so when Alice's hand finds mine, I don't refuse it. After a few seconds, I step closer to her in anticipation of the supposed arrival of Tanya and her coven.

"You've increased your numbers, Carlisle," a notably feminine, smoky voice calls from the brush.

"With the means to add two more," he replies, glancing at me.

Slowly, a petite woman with wavy, red-tinted blond hair appears from behind a wide tree trunk. At first, I'm surprised at how slight she is. How could Aro ever be frightened of someone so small? But the command in her fierce blue eyes is obvious, and as she makes her way to where we've stopped, those eyes find me and literally size me up in a matter of seconds.

"And he's a handsome one for sure," she says with a coy smile on her face. Her scrutiny lasts only long enough for her to arrive in front of Carlisle, and then her attention shifts. "I wasn't expecting you so soon. Something must have happened."

"Among other things, the plan we discussed is close to its starting point," Carlisle explains. "But before we do that, I have to ask a favor of you and your coven. As a service to me and my coven."

The way he says all of this shouldn't cause such a stir inside my body, but it does, and in anticipation, Alice squeezes my hand, willing me to remain calm through this formality between the two coven leaders. Something in Tanya's eyes tells me that while she wasn't expecting us so soon, she knew that Carlisle would eventually come to her needing this kind of help.

"Carlisle," she says, and it sounds interestingly like she's chastising a small child. "What have you done now?"

Again, he glances at me, and it's easier to feel his shame than it has been since I came out of unconsciousness and attacked Alice. "It's for Jasper that we need extra eyes and hands to retrieve his mate and a young girl who came into their charge no less than four days ago. And I admit it was mostly my doing that caused this. It was necessary to provoke Aro's fear, and I don't want anything to happen them."

Tanya's eyes land on me, and I have to look away. Despite Carlisle taking most of the blame for this, I still feel like I could've prevented this by simply leaving the moment I realized that Carlisle was so close to me. If I'd just left . . .

"You have been busy," Tanya says, but I don't look at her.

It's quiet for a minute or two, and new footsteps make themselves known as two more members of Tanya's coven.

"Come with us," Tanya orders, leading the way as the others trail us to move away from our hasty stopping point.

* * *

_**A little intrigued to meet Tanya's coven? I'm sure we can all guess who's in her coven, especially given who's with Carlisle.**_

_**The next few chapters might be spaced a little ways apart. As shitty as it sounds, RL is being a bitch, and the writing is not going well. But never fear, I will finish this story.  
**_

_**Till next time!  
**_


	12. Journey

_**We're still in Jasper's perspective here as he learns about Tanya's coven. We also meet Irina, Garrett, Kate and Carmen. Not sure if it's obvious or not, but their coven is completed by Laurent and Eleazar.  
**_

_**I don't own Twilight. And as far as I know, I'm just writing a story here, not a documentary, so don't try to place the tribe they find. You won't find them.  
**_

_**Thanks for all the alerts, favs and reviews. I love them all.  
**_

_**This is all also un-beta'd, so any lingering mistakes are mine.  
**_

* * *

_**Journey**_

The dwelling in which Tanya and her coven stay is much more rudimentary than I expect as a massive tent rises above the horizon over the snow-covered trees around us. It's not just any kind of tent. I can see the closer I get that it's been made of several animal hides, trees and mortar to make it very durable and livable. Inside, I discover the space to be partitioned off into four wide sections as they surround a large hearth at the center of the tent. This space is easily as large as the apartment Carlisle lived inside.

Tanya's coven has as many members as Carlisle's, but unlike him, I notice that she does not have a mate. The two women who resemble her have their own mates, and a dark-haired couple also pairs off once we're inside the tent.

"We're settled between three of the major tribes in the area," Tanya says as we all sit around the fire.

It makes me think of Bella, and my memories of her overpower my mind. She's so innocent, and I can't bear to think of what Aro will do to her — or Edward. Why are we just sitting here? When are we leaving to get Edward and Bella back?

"The humans we bring here are mostly injured men who've been attacked by bears and wolves in the area," Tanya continues. "You would be very surprised how often that happens. We store what we can, but it's mostly from the source."

Carlisle glances at me, probably having heard my thoughts and speaking to Tanya even as he watches me. "Yes, they are quite vulnerable, aren't they?"

Then Tanya looks at me. "It will only a short time for us to gather provisions. Because we will be required to stop at dawn and rest through the day, the run will takes us just over five days — six if we stop for longer than a day. And we will need to track a course that should keep us as close to the edge of the population as possible without being discovered." She smirks and then chuckles softly. "That is unless you wish to feast on the local fauna, Carlisle."

His disgust with the practice is instantly obvious despite his own smile. "We will remain undetected," he declares. "Anything to avoid small game and monkeys."

Everyone laughs, and I realize this is supposed to be a joke. But I don't find anything funny. With Esme to utilize her gift, I only hope this means we won't be killing any humans while we travel.

Carlisle glances at me, his emotions changing from playful and light to something decidedly darker and lustful. I remember when he kissed me, but it seems nearly three days have passed since then, as I was only unconscious for a day. Surely, he cannot expect me to bend to him as I did before simply because Edward is no longer here. He has two mates. Why must he look at me as though he'd like to make a third?

"As it is morning now," Tanya continues, "we will pack today and leave tonight. And of course, we will have to stop during the day. While we wait, we'll devise our plan to strike Aro. Right now, you're all welcome to anything we have to offer."

This is Rosalie and Emmett's cue to take a partition and disappear, and Esme pulls Carlisle to his feet so they can also have a space of their own. One of the blond women whom I'm presuming must be related to Tanya in some way helps Alice to a small space that doesn't have a cover, but I don't move when the dark-haired woman gestures for me to follow her. When I don't get up from where I've settled, she sits next to me.

"You look so troubled," she says, her accented voice sending a set of nervous chills down my spine. "You should not worry so much."

To that, I huff. "If your mate was taken from you, wouldn't you worry?"

"I suppose I would," she agrees. "But we will get them back. You must trust Tanya. She is a good woman." Then she extends her hand to mine. "My name is Carmen."

Gently, I accept her greeting. "Jasper."

"And your mate. What is their name?"

I look away into the fire, thinking of Bella and hoping she is all right with Edward. "His name is Edward."

This is all we speak of as the dark-haired man pulls her to her feet so they can begin packing. I'm left at the hearth alone for more time that I keep up with, hearing Rosalie and Emmett whispering and then copulating. It makes me think of Edward, and I suddenly feel so alone.

"You're not alone here," Tanya says, suddenly at my side.

She sits next to me, but for several minutes, she doesn't say anything else.

"I wasn't expecting you to be with Carlisle," she says when she speaks again. "The way he spoke of you, I thought you had been gone for a long time — with no hope of return."

"I was gone," I tell her. "And I had no plans to return. This was merely circumstantial. Now I wish I'd left the moment I realized he was so close. I know he still wants me, and I cannot understand why he will not let me go. He already has two mates."

She 'hmm's softly. "Yes, he does. A rarity in our society for certain. But no more rare than I am, as I do not have a mate at all."

Curiously, I turn to her. "Why?"

She smiles, but her eyes remain sad. "My sisters tell me I am too strong-willed to take a mate that is already a vampire. I have a coven to protect, and the humans around us all call us demons when we find them. One man even cursed me before I put him out of his misery after he'd been mauled by a bear four times his size. I don't want to make a mate, but there seems to be no other option for me if I am to have them understand that my power makes it nearly impossible to trust that they'll love me as I wish to love them."

Her explanation astonishes me.

Even though I've only been in her presence a few hours, I can sense her great age and compassion for her coven members.

"I'm sure you'll find someone who suits you eventually," I say diplomatically, hoping it will help her. "You have an eternity, after all."

She scoffs. "Yes, it seems I do."

Though it should surprise me, I can understand her bitterness, and I want to help her in anyway I can if my words do not comfort her. "Is there anything I can do to help you? Perhaps I could help you pack."

Tanya accepts my offer easily. "All right. The busier we are, the better, I suppose."

In an instant, she puts me to work.

There is no need for food or clothing, though I do pack several furs and insulated shoes for the trip we're all about to take. Tanya tells me that her sister Irina can manipulate the plants around them to make trees grow and create a shelter for us. Though she doesn't gesture which one of the blond women this Irina is, I gather this is how they built their tent to make it fit the group of them. Looking around as I pack, I decide the structure is rather impressive.

The day literally disappears, and when the member of my own . . . coven rejoin us, the sun is setting on the western horizon, laying out the cold, dark night ahead of us and giving us shelter to make our way. The fire in the hearth is extinguished, and any identifying items that might be stolen by anyone from the local tribes have been packed. Tanya has decided to leave the structure intact in the event that anyone passing by needs shelter. She also clearly plans to return.

The night air is crisp and shallow, but it fills my lungs and gives me strength to run at my fastest speed. We each take a pack which is much larger than the rucksacks from Carlisle's apartment, and less than an hour after the sun disappears beneath the mountains, we set off northwest for the land bridge that will give us passage into the tundra of Siberia.

For fourteen hours under the cover of darkness, we run non-stop, jumping inlets of water and shooting through the thick brush with such precision, it may as well not even be there. This is one of the parts of my life as a vampire I have always loved. My senses, though dulled by Edward's absence, are still sharp enough for me to run unhindered for the first leg of our journey with my assigned pack. The wind caresses my face, and the earth gives beneath my feet. It feels . . . exquisite.

We stop probably half an hour before the sun will rise again, and as the minutes tick by, I watch as Irina kneels to the sodden ground to begin making our shelter. The speed at which she works is astonishing. Trees sprout from the ground within seconds, forming thick trunks, limbs, needles and cones as they attempt to meet the sky. The dark-haired man whose name I have now learned is Eleazar and the other two men gather the packs and remove what will become a cover around the trees as they bend to form a thick canopy over our heads. I've never seen such work, and I am in complete awe of Irina's ability to manipulate the world around her.

We move inside the newly made structure with minutes to spare, and a small opening is cut through the top as Tanya uses branches and twigs to make a new hearth in the ground. The last blond woman, whom I've discerned is her other sister Katrina, moves in and ignites the wood with a spark from her index finger.

It is one of the men, the dark blond who appears to be Katrina's mate who announces we are only a few hundred miles from a village on the ocean bank.

"More so than that," he whose name is Garrett says with a measure of satisfaction, "a small group of them are performing a rite of passage hunt for a new hunter. Katrina and I can make it there with the leather covers."

I'm still unaware of what his ability is, but with my own ability, I can sense him being in quite literally two places at the same time. Tanya moves closer to him and then glances at me.

"Take Jasper with you. It has been longer for him than the others. Protect yourselves."

The leather covers turn out to be shoes, pants and jackets with hoods that I'm given to cover my own clothes. Katrina also straps a cloak over my shoulders and a face piece. Inside the cloak, I find gloves. It's all made of thick, heavy leather from the hides of several dead animals.

"We actually paid a woman in a local village to make these for us," Katrina tells me as we prepare to leave the coverage of our very woodsy-smelling hovel. "We caught fish and slaughtered many beasts for these protective leathers. You'll be safe, Jasper. Especially with the added canopy of the trees."

I cannot dispute with her logic, which is combined with confidence and decisiveness. Tanya steps in front of me and lays her hands on my shoulders.

"You'll be safe with Katrina and Garrett. We've done this before, and it's only because we don't have enough to cover everyone that we cannot use this method to get to your mates more quickly. Follow my sister's lead, and she'll instruct you on how to pack what you bring to us."

I bow my head in acceptance, and she squeezes my shoulder before nudging me on to follow Katrina and Garrett out of the tent. I don't look back, and no one in my own coven stops to give me any words of encouragement. This wouldn't normally bother me, but somehow, I feel that Carlisle will attempt to do something . . . foolish.

Together, Katrina, Garrett and I run through the thick trees for the few hundred miles it takes us to reach the small group of people he's felt here. Though it's cloudy, the overcast sky dissipates as the sun climbs the sky, and while I'm worried a few times over our run, I remain safe from the sun's dangerous effects. We're all quiet. Katrina remains confident, and eventually, she becomes singular in her chase of the human blood we all smell nearby. Suddenly, I'm so hungry.

There are seven or eight of them altogether, all male, but varying in ages of probably sixteen to nearly forty. They're all dark-haired, tall, muscular and tan-skinned. Most of their emotions are centered around their hunting. They have not detected us, and before they can, Katrina and Garrett move in to incapacitate them all. I move around to one of the older men, but then Katrina calls me to her side as she separates the youngest human among them from the others.

"Jasper," she calls. "This one is for you."

The boy was probably two-thirds my size, but he was warmer than the others and obviously much more innocent. At first, I refuse.

"That isn't necessary," I assure her. "One of the others will be fine when we return to our shelter."

The moment I'm close to her, she grabs my arm and pulls me to the ground. "No, Tanya told me you were to have the best one. And you have not fed in a long time."

She nudges me toward the boy, rising and moving to help Garrett with the others. I'm left beside my prey as he lays unconscious and suffering from a massive internal injury that will eventually kill him. I shouldn't feel remorse for ending his life before his injury does it for him, but remorse is only the first emotion that fills my body as I lean over the boy's jugular and sink my fangs into his skin, muscle and finally the sweet blood as it flows from his veins into my starving body.

When I come up for air holding the boy's stiff body in my hands, I realize that Katrina and Garrett have already readied the others for travel. They're both concerned about carrying so much, especially since we won't be able to run as fast, but they're determined to get it back to our shelter.

The sun isn't very high in the sky yet, but now, it will be in front of us as we travel, and I'm less confident of our arrival. The boy's blood is working its way through me and making me stronger than I was only a few hours earlier. It will not make me impervious to the sun. I don't think anything could do that.

But Katrina and Garrett seem to be prepared for this. When she pulls my hood as far down as it will go and then secures it to my cloak, the light is almost completely blocked out. Amazingly, I can still see where I'm going, but I'm no longer blinded by the brightness the trees have now allowed down through the canopy. She nods for me to follow her, and it is without question that I do. This coven is astonishingly very resourceful and well-versed in the task they've just performed. It's clear they've done this before.

We leave with the humans tied down to a makeshift sled comprised of trees, leather ties and fur, and though we cannot run as quickly as we did to get here, the trip is still shorter than I expect. Before I realize it, the shelter is less than a mile away, and I've survived my excursion into the morning light unharmed. I'm relieved, but I will much rather not do this again.

It is now midday, but as soon as we enter the shelter and begin the process of removing our coverings, Carmen and her mate Eleazar move in to assess our findings. I don't partake in the separation of the humans I know the vampires around me are about to feed on, but I know it's necessary to stay on schedule. Hopefully, none of us will have to feed again until we're just outside Volterra, at which point we'll all have to be very careful on whom we feed.

"Are you all right?" Alice asks me as she moves to my side to assist with the removal of my coverings.

"I am fine," I assure her.

"You're not upset anymore?"

Once the leathers are gone and I'm standing there barefoot with my shirt undone, I face her completely. "Of course I'm still upset," I say. "It is only by necessity that I'm doing any of this. The moment I have Edward and Bella with me, we're leaving. One unplanned bonding ceremony won't change my intentions to be on my own. I should've never allowed any of this to happen."

Her eyes, while stunned and frightened, are also confused by my reaction. She steps closer to me and lays her hand over my chest.

"You're safer with us, Jasper," she says certainly.

"Am I?" I ask, my voice harsh. "That's why my mate and Bella have both been taken to Volterra where Aro will do God knows what to them, because we both know how much of a panache he has for experimenting on vampires _and_ humans."

Her fear grows, but I continue.

"None of this would've happened to us if I'd simply left the shop that day with Bella, if I'd never allowed Carlisle to see her. And now because of my arrogance, I have to run across Siberia to get them back. Yes, I can see how much safer we are with _you_."

Slowly, she shakes her head. "I never — "

"It doesn't matter now," I snap. "Just . . . leave me alone."

I spend the rest of the day alone, sulking in a small space near the edge of the shelter until I see the sky outside dimming with the coming of dusk.

When I know the sun has sunk beneath the western horizon, I step outside into the cold air, completely ready to be away from the stifling smell of human flesh filling the shelter. If Edward were here, he would be able to calm my nerves. Right now, I feel like a tuning fork.

"I can help you."

Slowly, I turn to see Tanya there in her traveling clothes. She moves closer to me and gently takes my hands in hers.

"You're angry," she says, to which I huff, "and you have every right to be. But it will make traveling very difficult for you. I can help you."

"How?"

She touches my face and steps even closer. "I'm sure Carlisle has told you of my ability."

"He said you could make anyone do what you say by simply touching them," I recite from memory.

She nods and caresses my cheek with the back of her fingers.

"I don't want to forget why I'm angry," I whisper. "And I don't want to stop being angry."

"Jasper," she says, the same chastising way she did upon seeing Carlisle when we arrived near her home in Alaska. "You won't forget, and you won't stop. But for our journey, you'll simply be able to function without it. I promise it's just for a short time."

I know she only wishes to help, and unlike Carlisle, she doesn't have an ulterior motives for doing so. Without saying anything, I bow my head, giving her my permission.

"For our journey, you will be calm, and you will be safe. You will think of your mates while you sleep, and you will feed when you are hungry. You will let me know when you feel yourself becoming angry again, and I will always help you." Then she cups my face in her hands. "All right?"

A strange thing happens as her words set in. The anger I felt earlier with Alice doesn't go away, but it's replaced with an overwhelming calm feeling. I'm still upset about everything that's happened up to this point, but it is no longer ruling my thoughts or my actions. I also feel the need to apologize to Alice for my outburst.

Within seconds of my change in demeanor, the shelter is being disassembled, and our companions are all emerging ready to leave. Alice is my first destination, and though she's worried about me still, she withdraws a little when I approach her.

"I'm sorry for what I said earlier," I tell her with as plaintive a voice as possible. "It isn't your fault, and I swear not to do it again."

She's uncertain for a moment but then accepts my apology. "I understand, Jasper," she says softly. "Truly. We'll get Edward and Bella back. I know we will."

"Run with me?" I request with a slight grin.

Alice nods. "Of course."

The pack I carried here is waiting for me, and Alice joins me with her own before we follow Tanya and Carlisle away from our temporary home.

Our journey is just beginning, but soon, we'll be closer to our destination. And Edward and Bella.

* * *

_**So they're off, and next up, we'll be in Edward's perspective. So what do you think has been going on where he is?**_

_**If enough people guess right, I might consider posting a new chapter sooner.  
**_

_**Until then, have a great night! (even if it is a Monday)  
**_


	13. Submission

_**I wanted to have this updated a few days ago, but real life just would not allow it. I know that's a shitty reason, but hey, it's the best I can do. Hopefully, this chapter will make up for it.  
**_

_**We're back in Edward's POV for this chapter and the next, and they carry a warning for sex, blood and probably a little violence, but not much. If you're not 18, don't say I didn't warn you.  
**_

_**Thanks for the reviews, alerts and favs. You're all amazing!  
**_

_**I don't own Twilight. Honestly, would I be writing fan fiction if I was? On second thought, don't answer that.  
**_

_**This is also un-beta'd, so any lingering mistakes are mine.  
**_

* * *

_**Submission**_

I still haven't seen Bella since waking, but I can sense her. I know she's near me, and I know she's alive. Whether she's safe is another matter altogether. After Aro used his ability on me, I was left alone with only a member of his guard to watch me pace the room I've been left in for one reason or another. I know what this room is used for. It reminds me of the room Jasper and I were in when he claimed me — and when we claimed each other the first time.

To remember this here is triggering even more memories of that night. I was not scared or worried. Jasper was with me, and he protected me from them. But it also terrifies me that I don't know what Aro is doing to Bella. I don't think he'll hurt her, but there are ways to break someone's spirit without causing them physical pain.

The door to the room opens then, and Aro steps in slowly with Caius and Marcus. Behind them, I see Demetri and Felix — and Bella. She's no longer dressed in the night gown Emily gave her. The dress she's now wearing is brilliant royal blue with faded white trim, with floor length sleeves and slits up her arms to her shoulders. It has a low neck and a full skirt, and with her neck and arms exposed, my mind can only suspect what this is.

It is a claiming dress.

She doesn't make any gestures to the vampires who have shown her to the room. She simply walks around them toward me. The moment she's close enough, she lifts her eyes to mine, and there's a strange golden tint around her iris.

"Bella, are you all right?" I whisper, pleading.

She glances over her shoulder at Aro, and when I look at him, I notice an intensely insistent look on his face. Then she looks at me again. "I am fine," she says softly.

Without thinking, I lift my fingertips to her cheek, relieved to feel her warm skin and easily wrapping her in my arms. It's the only way I can think of to protect her from Aro. I don't know what he's said or done to her, but she needs to know she's safe from him.

"Don't you feel so much better now, my dear Edward?" Aro asks with a devilish grin.

I don't hesitate, holding Bella tighter. "You are completely evil," I spit. "And if you've done anything to harm her, I swear I will rip you apart myself."

He gives me a chastising look. "Oh, Edward, I would never harm Isabella. She is as unique as you are. I only wish to learn about her, and unlike most of the ungrateful creatures who pass through here, she was only too willing to help me. Though I do regret to admit that she might have permanently damaged a few of my most prized members." He shrugs and clasps his hands together. "All in the name of evolution, I suppose."

The room is quiet another minute, and I do nothing to loosen my hold on Bella, wishing I could escape with her right now.

The expression on Aro changes instantly from that of a curious man to one of a man hell-bent on completing his experimentation. All emotion literally drains from his face, and he takes just one step toward us before speaking.

"Now for the true test of Isabella's abilities," he says, glancing back at the door as another vampire steps into the room.

She's petite, brunette and very slight, almost as much as Bella. But I sense her much older age only a few seconds after she makes her appearance. Her dark brown eyes find mine, and even though I should be afraid, I'm not. I can't understand this, but the feeling isn't given time to grow before she begins her trek toward me and Bella. Somehow, I know not to move away from her, and in an instant, she's standing so close to me that I can smell her. Gardenias and honeysuckle assail my senses, and all my worries are put to rest.

I know she won't hurt us.

I know this because I recognize her smell in a way I don't think I should.

"You're safe here," she says, and her voice startles me.

But I trust her even though I shouldn't.

Then Aro speaks. "You see, Edward, we've — I've never met a human who was so powerful they could not grow once they'd been transformed into a vampire. It is virtually unheard of to me and my brothers. And I suppose it is because of you that I will now be able to test this theory."

His words terrify me. "No," I whisper. "Please. Anything but that."

He grins and tucks his chin to his chest. "There is no other way to prove my theories."

I hold Bella to me tighter until he would have to rip my arms off to take her away. "And exactly what theory is that?"

He shrugs. "Whether she will die, of course."

My instincts kick in instantly, and my fangs descend with no regard to whom I'm holding. "I won't do that!" I growl.

Without pausing, he crosses the room and grabs my face, hitting me with the same vision he planted earlier. Along with that vision, his thoughts promise that neither I nor Jasper will survive the punishment he plans to implement if I do not do everything he asks. This means he knows Jasper will come for me, but he wants this.

He wants us with him.

When he releases me, I'm knelt to the floor and Bella is beside me. The other female vampire has also remained at my side, but I don't care. I lift my eyes, seeing Aro still standing in front of me with a disdainful expression on his face.

I know what he wants.

He wants me to bite Bella, to feed from her, and quite possibly, kill her. If she does not die, his theory will be disproved. But what if she does? How will I survive that?

"You don't remember Chelsea," he says of the female vampire whose scent I recognize. "But she will watch you while you perform your task. I also understand that you feel something for this human. It is not unheard of among our kind for a vampire to have two mates, as I understand it."

While I'm still knelt in front of him with Bella, dread settles into my gut and weakens my resolve.

I do not want two mates. I want Jasper. I care for Bella. I love her and wish for nothing more than her safety. But she is human. How can she be my mate unless she's a vampire? If I bite her and she dies, what good will it do for me to claim her? Then if I bite her and she doesn't die, will she be same after I've taken her blood?

"Please," I whisper. "I do not wish to harm her. She's innocent, I swear. Please don't make me do this to her. I will do anything else."

"I do not want you to do anything else," he says simply before turning to leave with Caius and Marcus.

Chelsea stays, also knelt with me, but I don't acknowledge her immediately.

"I promise you are safe," she says, causing me to lash out at her.

"How does this make us safe?" I yell. "And who are you to promise us this? Why do I recognize your scent?"

She remains calm, touching my face and leaning closer to whisper next to my ear. "It is because I am loyal to Carlisle, and he told me a long time ago that a girl and a boy would be captured who piqued Aro's interest so greatly that he would risk losing members of his coven to have them. Doing this will tip the scales in Carlisle's favor. But in order to do that, you must put aside your fears to make Aro believe this was his doing. I can help you."

Her ability becomes clear to me as I feel my ties to Bella strengthening slowly. I do not only love her now. I _need_ her. It's different from the feelings I have for Jasper. He is my creator, my teacher and my lover. I know if anything happens to him that I will never be the same.

But with Bella, it's completely different. If she dies, I will die.

For a moment, I'm worried.

"I do not wish to stop loving Jasper," I warn her. "He is my mate now and forever."

She strokes my hair gently. "You will not stop loving him. But you will love Bella as much as you love him. It will be equal now. I swear."

Slowly, I lean away from Bella and cup her face in my hands. "Bella, please tell me. What did he make you do?"

I can see in her eyes that she doesn't want to tell me, but she does so very reluctantly. "I was asked to burn them beyond recognition. He said he would harm you if I did not. So I did. And he told me to blind one of his coven who'd been caught hoarding human blood in their chambers. So I did. I burned her eyes out, and they did not grow back as he said they might. I tried to apologize, but she would not allow me. And then I — "

As she says these things to me and as such horrific images assail my mind, I instinctively pull me closer to me, attempting to comfort her from such horrible things.

"I did not want to do it, Edward," Bella cries against my chest. "But I did not want him to harm you. Please forgive me. I beg of you."

"There is nothing to forgive," I tell her. "You have done nothing wrong. And I swear to you I will not allow it to happen to you again."

While holding her in my arms, I turn my eyes to Chelsea and nod.

If it means keeping Bella in this room until Jasper comes for us, then I will do whatever it takes. I will mate with her, I will claim her, I will change her if I can. I will keep her safe.

What began as a need to keep Bella safe from Aro evolves into a need to make her a permanent part of my life. When she kissed me the first time, it was so unexpected and terrifying, but the second time, I knew what I was doing and had never been more certain of anything in my existence.

Now that I feel such a strong connection to her, I want her to be mine. In this moment, no one else will have her.

With Chelsea's help, I rise with Bella and sit her on the bed, caressing her cheek and hearing her heart speed up exponentially.

"It is all right," I whisper, scooting closer to her and laying my palm over her cheek. "We will both be all right. I promise you."

Her nervousness slowly dissipates, and I find myself a little conflicted.

I've never lain with a girl who has never been with a man. No woman I've fed from this way has never been as innocent as Bella is, and I do not want to hurt her. But this is the claiming process. If I do not do this, then our connection will not be complete. I know this because it is how Jasper and I were entwined together three hundred years ago.

"Bella, you must tell if I hurt you," I say softly, caressing her cheek and then her brow. "I will do my absolute best to be gentle, I swear. But you must tell me. Do you understand?"

Tears well in her eyes, spilling down her cheeks as she closes her eyes and nods quickly.

"You must trust me, Bella," I plead. "My dear, sweet innocent Bella, I need you to trust me. I love you so much."

She wraps her small hands around my wrists and leans closer to me to press her forehead to mine. "I trust you, Edward," she promises. "I love you."

This is the last thing that is said before I lean in even closer and kiss her for the first time since we were captured. She responds instantly, grasping onto my arms and opening her mouth to allow my tongue between her lips.

She feels so much more different than Jasper. She is smaller and more delicate. Her skin is smoother and softer, and she shivers as I ease my fingertips up her arms to the cloth ties holding the top of her dress together. They come loose easily, and the fabric falls away from her slight chest. Instantly, I see her round breasts and tiny nipples.

Her little hands unbutton my shirt quickly, pushing it off my shoulders so my skin is exposed to her just as her skin is exposed to me. Without worrying of her reaction, I rip the rest of the dress off, discarding it in favor of her naked body as we move together over the bed to be in the center.

Bella's thoughts become jittery and jumbled as the image of a blond-haired man with a friendly smile and a gentle touch. She has been kissed before, but her father would not allow much more than that while Bella was so young. This man touched her and showed her how to touch him. I am stunned at this for a moment, but when Bella unfastens my pants to expose me to her, I no longer care who showed her these things.

I kiss Bella again, wrapping my hands around her hips and lowering my lips and tongue to her neck and then her breast to lick her nipple. A soft moan falls from her lips, and I move to the other nipple to give it the same treatment. I tug and nip at her gently, rubbing her bottom and allowing my fingers to graze the crease between her cheeks. Her warmth is even more prominent here, and it's easy to sink my fingers over her wet folds.

"Edward," she moans again, threading her fingers through my hair and rocking her hips in rhythm with my stroking.

Her heart is thundering in her chest, pumping blood to every centimeter of her taut, quickly-peaking body. I can almost taste her blood from beneath her skin, and I want it so badly. The impulse to take her now is so overwhelming; I have to fight every instinct I have telling me to bite her so I won't do it too soon.

My own blood is rushing through my veins to my groin, and with little warning, Bella pushes me away. Her thoughts give her away as images of that man showing her how to please him run through her mind. She grasps onto the waist of my pants as they lay open and then tugs it down so that I'm naked like she is. My hardening shaft makes itself known, and Bella straddles me again to kiss me.

With my fingers still stroking her, it's only too easy to sink their lengths inside her.

"Oh! Yes!"

She wraps her arm around my shoulders, kissing me more fervently and gasping as I continue stroking her — getting her ready for the orgasm I know she's about to have. Even with my arm around her waist and my fingers inside her slick folds, she manages to touch my hard, erect length with her fingertips.

The action sends an immediate set of chills through my body, and I double my efforts, stretching her with a third finger and rubbing her sensitive bud at the apex of her swollen folds. No pain registers in her mind, and she begins gliding her hand along my shaft slowly.

It's so different from when Jasper touches me. He is so skilled in what arouses me and makes me come. Bella is not nearly as skilled, but she learns quickly, realizing that every time her palm grazes my covered tip, I groan and my fingers falter slightly. I not only like the way she is touching me — I love it.

"You feel so good," I whisper against her lips, extending my tongue to meet hers and closing my lips around hers.

She moans again louder and her movements become hurried and shaky. "Oh, my love. You are making me feel so good."

Abruptly, she convulses around my fingers, also gripping my shoulder and tightening her hold on my shaft, and I know this is because she's climaxed with me just stroking and touching her. She scoots closer to me until her heat envelopes my torso, and my skin feels like it is on fire. Is this her closeness to me, or is it my closeness to her?

"I want to feel you, Edward," she whispers, still stroking me and pressing her chest to mine. "I want to feel you inside me. Please."

I know she's relaxed enough for this, but I also know she is so tight. "It will be uncomfortable at first," I tell her, rubbing the space between her shoulder blades and feeling the bare skin of her mound graze my abdomen.

It's strange that she is bare, but new thoughts make themselves known as she reveals that two of Aro's female guards tended to her just yesterday — preparing her for this, for me. I can't express my displeasure with this enough. I don't like that they not only looked upon her naked flesh but also touched her in a place no one but me should have, even to do something as menial as shaving her.

"Does it bother you?" she asks, somehow detecting my discomfort.

To answer her, I lean in and kiss her. "No," I assure her. "It only surprises me. It is all right."

My fingers do the rest of my talking, as my hands as I slowly lower her tight well over my erect shaft. I have to go slow, and halfway in, I have to stop so she can adjust to me. Soft whimpers fall from her lips the further we go, but then, finally, I'm completely seated. She's so tight, and it feels so perfect. I never believed it could — or would — ever feel this amazing.

Soon, either I move or she does. I'm not certain which of us moves first, but as soon as it happens, I'm unable to stop. I have to move a second time and then a third until I know that she's moving with me. Instinctively, I slip my fingers between us to continue stroking her, and she presses her forehead to mine while still holding her arm around her shoulders.

"Are you all right?" I whisper against her lips.

She nods, and in response, I pull her up so that I slide almost all the way out of her only to push back into her all the way.

"Oh! Edward!"

Slowly, I increase our tempo, still gentle but now driving into her deeply and completely until we're grinding into each other differently from how I ever have with Jasper or any of the women I've fed from.

The coil in my belly tightens in an unfamiliar way, and I can feel my fangs descending slowly. It's almost time. I won't be able to stop it once it happens, and I don't think I'll want to. Her arousal is spurring me on, and her inner muscles begin clenching around me the way they did around my fingers. I know she's having another orgasm, and I know I'm about to have my own.

An intense burning sensation begins building at my spine until it reaches the base of my skull, and just as I feel my release inside Bella, instincts I didn't even know I had make themselves known instantly as I rear back and then clamp my jaws around her muscle between her jaw and her shoulder.

Sweet, delicious blood fills my mouth instantly, but this tastes different from every bit of human blood I've ever tasted. It tastes of cinnamon, cayenne and pure heat, and I can't get enough of it. Bella reacts to my sudden assault by gripping the hair of my head more tightly than anyone possibly could, save Jasper, and my scalp erupts in pain I've never felt in three hundred years of being virtually indestructible.

We keep moving as she milks me for all I'm worth, and it isn't just once that I bite her. After only half a moment, I release the one side of her neck to tilt her head and lay claim to the other side, drinking in as much of her hot blood as I possibly can. There doesn't seem to be enough for me, and I don't care about taking too much anymore.

This is when I feel something change inside me.

Most human blood is hot, yes, but this is the first time I've tasted blood that is quite literally scorching. My climax is pushed to its very edges until I have to let go of Bella for fear that I might burn up from the inside out. The guttural yell that erupts from my lips is the most unintelligible sound I've ever heard, but I have no defenses in place for this feeling I'm now experiencing.

My heart speeds up even faster than it was just moments earlier during my coupling with Bella. Heat from her blood and her body is spreading through me at a furious rate until I can feel my fingertips and toes on fire. I'm pulling in and pushing out air so fast that I can't hold onto any of it long enough to calm my body from its peak. Bella doesn't disengage from me, holding my face in her hands so that I'll look at her while I sit there going slightly mad from what's happening to me.

"Edward," she whispers. "What's happening?"

Gasping, I nudge her away, turning to my side and glancing around the room. I see Chelsea and realize she's been here this entire time. "I feel . . . hot," I huff, panting heavily. "Like I'm . . . on fire. I can't . . . catch my breath. I don't . . . want . . . to die."

Bella scoots closer to me, rubbing my forehead and glancing in Chelsea's direction.

What can she do?

The heat is almost unbearable now. I feel like I'm burning from the inside out, and I can't stop it.

Slowly, my vision starts to go black, and I panic, pushing Bella away and stumbling out of the bed even as Chelsea hurries across the room to catch me.

"Edward, calm down," she orders.

"I can't," I huff. "This feels wrong. It feels . . . so wrong."

The last thing I see is Bella climbing off the bed and kneeling in front of me before my vision completely leaves me and is quickly followed by my consciousness.

The black abyss embraces me wholly, and I can't find my way back to the surface.

This wasn't supposed to happen.

Am I dying?

Is this what Aro had really wanted? To see if Bella's blood would kill a vampire? Did he already know she wouldn't die?

So many questions.

No answers.

* * *

_**Oh, no, what is this? What's happening to Edward? Think you know?**_

_**Plus, this is as much his story as it is Jasper's. Would I really kill him?  
**_

_**That's giving too much away, so sorry, no more.  
**_

_**I'm hoping to have the next chapter ready a little sooner than this one, so bear with me.  
**_

_**Have a great Sunday!  
**_


	14. Second Skin

_**So a few of you were not happy with the way the last chapter went, and though I won't apologize for the way the story is going, I will say that I'm sorry you're not enjoying the way things are going. There were hints, and I guess I should've made them a little more clearly.  
**_

_**Right now, we're moving ahead, and I hope you don't read too far into what's said and done.  
**_

_**There's much more story that comes after this chapter, and there will be more interaction between Edward, Bella and Jasper.  
**_

_**For finer points, I don't own Twilight. It should be obvious by now.  
**_

_**This is also un-beta'd, so any lingering mistakes are all mine.  
**_

_**Thanks to those of you still reading and looking forward to the way this story will end up playing out. I really appreciate it.  
**_

* * *

_**Second Skin**_

My heart is pounding so hard that I can hear it in my ears and feel it in my fingertips. I don't know what this means, and it frightens me more than I ever have been. The light beyond my eye lids is bright and hot, but I can't open my eyes for anything. The dark abyss is gone and has been replaced by a hot, bright pool of lava, and the worst of it is, I can't free myself of it. Something is holding me down by my ankles, wrists and neck, and I feel like I'm being tested like a laboratory specimen. I don't know how long I've been this way, but it feels like an eternity has passed.

The blood inside my body is so hot, and it hurts to move when I'm able despite it not being much to begin with. I can't remember how I got here, and it makes no sense. Is my life just beginning? Have I died, and this is where I'm spending eternity now?

A face flashes before my eyes, and it spurs a brilliantly lit memory. The beautiful blue eyes are so loving and passionate, and they smile at me before the fire consumes me again. Something grabs my hand, and I try to resist, but I can't.

"Edward."

The voice that says my name startles me, and then an equally hot coal is laid over my forehead.

"Open your eyes, my love."

I shake my head in protest. I don't know what opening my eyes will do, but if I keep them closed, I know they won't burn out of my sockets.

"You're all right, Edward. Open your eyes."

Suddenly, something wet drips onto my forehead, and it surprises me because it is cold — ice cold.

More liquid touches my skin — on my chest, my arms and my stomach — and it too is cold. How is this possible if the inside of my body is so hot?

"You're safe, my love. Please wake up."

Soft, gentle lips press against my cheek after it has been cooled by the water, and I turn my head toward them.

"Yes, it's me," she whispers. "I'm here. Please look at me."

Slowly, cautiously, I allow my eye lids to peel back from my eyes, astonished that I'm laying inside a dim room. More than that, I can't believe that Bella is lying next to me. She is still naked, and I can feel that I am as well, but that is not what captures my attention.

The strange golden ring is gone from her eyes now, and they've returned to their beautiful brown. She smiles at me and then glances away.

"He's awake," she says with a laugh.

I don't know what this means.

I did not die?

Why am I still so hot?

Chelsea appears at the other side of the bed, now dressed is a pure white gown as she carries a bowl of water.

"Finally," she says and then smiles.

"What happened?" I ask.

She dips a cloth in the bowl and then wrings it out before laying it over my forehead. "You've been unconscious for three days," she tells me. "You apparently took in enough of Bella's blood to make your body have a most astonishing reaction. Aro told me to watch you while he attended to business in court. Of course, he didn't even have to ask. How do you feel?"

"I'm still hot," I say simply.

Bella touches my face, and I look at her, rising and reaching for her instinctively.

"You're all right," I whisper.

"I am fine," she replies.

Absently, I search her neck and shoulders for wounds, but there are none. This is confusing because I'm absolutely certain that I bit her and drank her blood.

"I don't understand," I say, looking at Chelsea. "How is this possible?"

"Aro theorizes it is the fire that Isabella creates," she explains. "He wasn't for certain you would survive a bonding — either of you. When I revealed to him that you were both not only alive but well, this intrigued him. I convinced him to let me remain the sole observer until you awakened. Even I cannot believe what has happened to you, but I can see and hear it with my own senses." She eases the cool, wet cloth down my back and then my chest. "Do you still feel the need for blood?"

Right now, all I can think of is how exquisite the wetness feels on my skin, but in the midst of my euphoria, I hear her question, and it piques my interest.

Without saying anything to either Bella or Chelsea, I scoot closer to Bella and then pull her as close to me as I possibly can. She's startled but doesn't push me away as I press her body to mine and proceed to smell every inch of her skin that I can without releasing her. No longer does she smell so enticing that I must bite her. Her scent has changed from hot cinnamon to a much cooler, arousing freesia with honey. I do not wish to devour her in the way of feeding from her, but having her near me arouses me until I'm not only smelling of her but also kissing her and trying to wrap her up inside me where I know she'll be safe.

Chelsea grabs my shoulder and pulls me away from Bella. "There will time enough for that soon," she tells me. "Right now, you must answer my questions. It's the only thing that will prevent Aro from coming back. Now tell me. Do you still need blood?"

I turn my attention to Bella, rubbing her back gently. "No."

"Not even a little?"

I shake my head. "Not at all. Is that normal?"

She laughs softly. "I don't know." She lifts her fingers to my brow and then my cheek. "You're so warm. Are you in pain?"

The fact that I'm still so hot on the inside fills my head again, but strangely, it is no longer painful to feel the heat inside my body. Indeed, now that I'm holding Bella in my arms, her heat is now my heat. It feels so much more normal than I ever thought it would, and while I should be frightened of what this mean, I am not.

"No," I say to Chelsea. "No longer."

"Are you hungry at all?"

I shake my head at her, but she smiles.

"I mean, for human food, Edward."

Curiously, my attention shifts to listen to my body, and that's when I feel an unusual gurgling shake my long-empty stomach.

Stunned, I grab my side, and Chelsea laughs again. "I suppose that answers my question," she says, still rubbing the cloth over my skin. "I'll have one of the servants bring you both something to eat after you've completely acclimated to this new state. And . . ." She pauses and glances around making sure we're alone before she leans in as close as she can and shows her thoughts to me so no one else will know what she's showing me.

_Carlisle's arrival is imminent. I've heard from others that he brings a quantifiable band of allies with him. From what I've gathered, it will only be a day before he is here. I have been doing everything in my power to keep Aro from seeing you, as he believes it is possible for you to have taken in an ability which is not yours. However, I believe this to be untrue. I believe all that has happened is your body has been enhanced by Isabella's blood._

As this passes through her mind, I lean away from her. "How?"

For this, she speaks aloud. "A vampire's body is changed from that of a human at the very basic level. Quite literally, we are a separate species from them all together. When a human with an ability is changed, their ability is enhanced exponentially. But with Isabella, this would not be the case. She was infected when you bit her, but her body was able to fight off the infection, perhaps even use it to her advantage — while your body attempted to absorb the blood the way it normally would. Her blood attacked you, to use a term with which we are both very familiar. But I watched you, Edward. I watched you change — your heart, your skin, and your eyes."

"My eyes?" I repeat, stunned. "I opened them?"

She glances at Bella and bows her head. "It was before you lost consciousness. Your eyes turned brown, Edward. Her blood reached the very edges of your body, and it changed you from the inside out. Come," she says, taking my hand and pulling me off the bed.

I'm reluctant at first, especially when it hurts to stand on my feet after being unconscious for so long. And then she steps up to the window as it sets covered by heavy curtains.

Slowly, and without alarming me, she pulls back one side of the curtains so that half my naked body is illuminated by a blinding light that can only come from the sun. I start to back away, but then Bella comes up behind me to hold me still.

"It's all right, my love," she whispers. "We bathed you in the light not half a day ago. You were not harmed. I do not believe the sunlight will ever harm you again."

And then in an instant, I'm angry.

"No," I yell. "I can't be different! Not from Jasper. He's my mate. It's not right for this to happen to me. I did not ask for this!"

She steps back, confused, and I glare at Chelsea before again looking down at my hands as I stand there with the sun now shining on all of me.

"No," I cry. "Please, no. I did not want this."

Chelsea steps in front of me and makes me look at her. "No one asks to become a vampire, Edward. No one asks for this life."

"I did!" I scream at her. "I wanted Jasper. And he wanted me. We did not know the law when he changed me. It was not for any reason other than our own!"

"Then you're one of the lucky ones," she says calmly. "Because no one who comes to this place knows what their new life will entail — not really. They are manipulated and coerced into thinking they have no other choice because they do not wish to die. I did not wish for this life. It was forced on me just after my 21st birthday by a man who stole me away from my family because I was the oldest and had no other choice! Jasper wanted you because he loved you. I only wish that was the case with most of us, but it isn't. Edward, do you love Isabella?"

Reluctantly, I turn my tearful, angry eyes toward her as she stares at me fearful of what I'll do next. She helplessly thinks of remaining by my side the last three days, waiting, wishing, hoping that I was all right and would wake to find her there with me. The guilt I feel for yelling at her twists like a knife in my gut, and I step closer to her to do something, anything to erase her fear.

"I do love you," I whisper to her. "More than I did before." Then I lay my forehead over hers and pull her into my arms with my hands wrapped around her body. "Forgive me. I was surprised is all. I swear. I would never hurt you."

Her hold on me tightens tenfold, and then I glance back at Chelsea.

"I did not mean to yell. I just — I can't — I did not want this. But I do not regret it," I declare holding Bella closer, as close as she can be without being tucked inside my heart. "I do not know how I will tell this to Jasper."

Chelsea steps closer to us and lays her hand over my shoulder. "Hold onto that thought," she says. "First, we must wait. In the mean time, I will have food brought for you. Whatever happens, whatever you might hear, do not leave this room. Understood?"

I nod easily.

Slowly, she steps around us and leaves silently.

As soon as she's gone, I lean back to look at Bella. "I am so sorry for my outburst," I whisper, gazing into her eyes as we both now stand in the brilliant sunlight of early morning. With a gentle smile, I lean in to kiss her, rubbing her brow and then her cheek. "You look so much more beautiful in the sunlight than I thought you would."

She rises to her toes and wraps her arms around my shoulders. "As you do," she replies, kissing me a little more passionately.

I'm surprised when her touch doesn't burn me or make me feel much hotter than I should, and when she starts walking me back to the bed, I can only laugh softly. The sun now shines on the bed where I'm guessing we were laying only moments earlier, and while it shines on her, I look over every part of her body I can.

Her skin is as luminous as ever, and her cheeks are a soft pink. She smiles and crawls onto the bed beside me, laying over her chest and gazing at me with more love in her eyes than I've ever seen anyone possess. This should infuriate me. No one could ever love me more than Jasper, and I wouldn't want anyone to. But I can't be angry at Bella. She is so innocent and so beautiful, and I love her so much.

Slowly, I crawl to where she lays and immediately beginning a trail of kisses that starts at her shoulder and ends just above her bottom. She shivers just as the tip of my tongue grazes her crease, and while I'm tempted to kiss her there, I want so much more than that. Gently, I turn her to her back, rising to my hands and knees to keep my eyes on hers. She reaches for me, and I go to her easily, laying over her and wrapping her legs around my body to be as close to her as I can without being inside her again.

Her lips are so soft, and all I want is to keep kissing them. The instant her tongue touches mine, shivers assail every inch of my body. Bella's little hands rub down my back to my tailbone where she grabs both my cheeks and pulls me closer to her. I can feel her wetness cradling my cock as it reacts to her coaxing. Before she can urge me on much further, I lean back to look at her, wanting nothing more than to drink her in as she lays illuminated by the sun.

I say nothing to her, lowering my mouth to her breasts to taste her skin. Her tiny nipples tighten as I lick and suck on them, and Bella's soft moans sound like music to my still highly tuned ears. This intrigues me, as I've yet to truly retest my abilities other than the obvious mind-reading capabilities I still possess. Are all my senses still enhanced as they have been for the last three hundred years? Or have they changed as well?

I no longer wish to bite her. I can't even feel my fangs, nor does my proximity to Bella cause them to descend as I graze my teeth along her fluctuating abdomen. It takes only a few more kisses until I reach her still smooth mound, and this piques my interest.

"They've kept you shaved," I say suddenly, unable to hide my surprise.

Bella blushes instantly. "After the first time, Chelsea said it would help, though she didn't elaborate as to why. Are you sure it does not bother you?"

I answer her by kissing her skin just above her mound, and she bites her lip gently.

It's only too easy to continue spreading light kisses over her hips, and the sunlight spreads over the little bud at the apex of her legs. She smells exquisite, but not in any way that makes me thirsty. Extending my tongue to lick her bud, I grab her legs and spread them before me, laving my tongue against her and eliciting such a beautiful sound from her mouth that I can't help but continue.

"Oh, dear sweet God!" she cries, grasping onto my hair as she did the last time I touched her. "Oh, Edward, my love!"

She tastes even more amazing that she smells, and I'm overwhelmed as I delve my tongue inside her.

This is when I realize that not even her arousal causes my thirst to surface, and it is at this point that I know I am no longer a vampire.

Whatever I am, I do not believe anyone knows this as of yet.

I feel her body convulse around my tongue, and in less than a second, I rise to be above her again. She is ready for me a second time, and nothing stops me from taking her again as the sunlight illuminates her beautiful, wondrous body for my hungry eyes. Her arms and legs cling to me like I'm her lifeline, and I feel the same thing for her as we begin our second mating.

A strange thing happens as we lay engulfed in each other. My mind is so tuned in to hers that I can see thoughts and memories of her as a little girl when she found a doe in the woods surrounding her home. Then I see her as an adolescent, sneaking away from her room and swimming in a river nearby. The blond man who taught her about her body told every time he touched her that she was beautiful and loved and safe, and she believed it until her parents died.

I've never seen so deep into anyone's mind before, not even Jasper's, and I think this is because he was so guarded when he first found me that it was never an issue between us. Now I don't understand why he didn't just trust me.

My hearing picks up on light footsteps coming toward our room, but I can't stop my claiming of Bella's innocent soul. Within minutes, and as both Bella and I nudge each other toward our peak, the door opens to allow a vampire servant into the room with food.

Their presence causes an increase in my protective instincts, and as soon as my eyes find theirs, I'm somehow able to make them leave the room without saying anything. Instead, I yell inside their head.

_Get out!_

When the vampire obeys, Bella makes me look at her, still moving with me and kissing me as the need to bite her returns with a frenzied vengeance. But a remarkable thing happens as I take her hands in mine and bury my face in the bend of her neck. Her scent, while it nudges me even closer to my orgasm until I feel my release, calms me so swiftly that I barely feel her clench around me with her own release.

"Oh, Bella," I whisper against her skin. "My sweet innocent Bella. Are you all right?" I plead, leaning back slightly to look into her eyes.

She's panting heavily but gently, smiling and then laughing. "I am perfect," she croons. "No more will I ever fear being alone."

This causes me to smile, and I cradle her head in my hands as she lifts her head to kiss me again. "No more," I agree.

And even as we lay there in each other's arms, I can see Jasper in the back of her mind as he is also in mine.

How will I explain this to him? What will I say? Will he understand?

I have no answers, but I hope in the next several hours that they will come to me. Jasper is still my mate, just as Bella is now.

* * *

**Okay, here's the thing. I now have quite a few stories going at the same time, and this is my dilemma. Do I continue burning the candle at both ends and have it cost me the story in some form or fashion?**

**I have to make a decision right now to slow down and gather the story back up so I know exactly what to do next, and while I have ideas and notes, the rest of the story is so up in the air. I'm human, and this is one of my flaws.  
**

**I hope you'll all stay tuned in because I completely intend to finish this story. I know a lot of authors say that and then disappear for months. I'm guilty of it myself.  
**

**I will continue working on this story and others, possibly only working on one until it's finished and then another and then another until they're all finished, and maybe then I'll post a new story.  
**

**Until then, I hope you'll tell me what you think of this chapter.  
**

**Later!**


	15. Storming the Castle

_**I know, I know. It's been a while. But here I am! And I hope this makes up for it.  
**_

_**We're back in Jasper's perspective, and by the end of this chapter, I promise he'll see Edward again.  
**_

_**But what then?  
**_

_**More at the bottom.  
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_**Storming the Castle**_

The sun has just fallen below the western horizon, and I'm more anxious than I've ever been in my life. We're only a hundred miles from the castle where Aro convenes, and therefore, only an hour away from Edward and Bella. Though I can't sense them just yet, my instincts tell me they're all right. Carlisle and Tanya are talking of how to best infiltrate the main hall, especially since it will be heavily guarded. I want to go now, but if I do that, it's likely I'll die.

So I have to wait with them.

"The southeast entrance will be underground," Tanya says as she and Carlisle stand away from the rest of us. "But the northwest tunnel is closest to the main gathering hall. That's where they'll all be."

Carlisle glances at me before speaking. "Even if we make it to the main hall, they'll know of our arrival by then. It's possible we might be captured, but it would allow Aro's guard to be down if he thinks we did this unprepared. If we split up, it will increase our chances of success."

Tanya nods. "Agreed. We should also leave someone behind to keep watch in the event that Aro tries to call for reenforcements from outside the castle."

"A good idea," he says. "My coven will take the northwest tunnel. With Emmett and I, we'll be able to overpower the guards. With the southeast entrance less fortified, you and your coven should be able to enter the castle and make the way for us all to get to the main hall unharmed. With any hope."

"With any hope," she repeats, also glancing at me.

The only layout of the castle I'm aware of is the western most entrance where I was greeted by Felix and Demetri when I brought Edward here for his claiming even though I'd already tasted his blood. Obviously, Carlisle and Tanya know more about the castle than I do, but all I really care about is getting to Edward and Bella. I want no more games, no more tricks, no more delays.

I've waited long enough to have my mate back.

"Jasper," Tanya says, and I look to see her beckoning me to her.

Slowly, I follow her call. The instant I'm in front of her, she turns me to face her completely.

"You'll be with Edward soon," she says. "And Bella too. But penetrating the castle will be nearly impossible unless your thoughts and strength are both focused on staying alive until you see them. Promise me you'll be careful. I want you to have them back just as much as you want them back. All right?"

At first, I think she's using her ability on me, trying to coax my compliance. But then I realize she is merely showing me concern — the kind of concern Carlisle never has. This has a strange effect on me. I've never had many friends other than Edward, and never have I ever had another vampire as a friend.

Tanya has proven herself worthy of my friendship on this journey, and I think I would like to have a friend who will fight for me, instead of against me.

"I promise I will," I say to her, and I can see in her eyes that she knows I'm as sincere as I have been since I met her seven days earlier.

She nods and steps away to speak with her coven members softly.

"Jasper," Alice calls as she stands away from Carlisle.

Slowly, I move to her side, and she gently takes my hands in hers.

"No matter what happens," she says, "I want you to know that I'm sorry this happened. I've always considered you a friend even after you left. If you leave again, that won't change. I promise."

She rises to her toes and wraps her slim arms around my neck and shoulders, holding me as tightly as she can, and after a minute, I reciprocate her gesture, whispering softly.

"I promise too. We should get ready to leave."

Neither of us moves for another minute, and I understand that she's seen something but has not told Carlisle of her vision.

"It's time," Carlisle says.

Alice keeps a hold on one of my hands as we move to where the others have split into two groups, and even though I'm not thrilled about going anywhere with Carlisle, I know it will keep our numbers even. I somehow sense he's trying to push the balance of fortune in his favor, but I don't know how just yet.

Our run consists of avoiding farms and little towns along the path that's been laid out for us leading straight to the castle, and at the halfway mark, Tanya and her coven move to the south away from us to breach the underground entrance. I silently pray for their safety and speed, something I haven't done in a very long time.

I stay close to Alice as we near the northern edge of Volterra, and Carlisle and Emmett take point as the castle comes into view. Edward's ability has waned inside Carlisle slightly, but with Edward's blood inside him, I know it won't fade the way mine did before. I also know my ability will no longer fade from him because he's taken in enough of my blood to retain it. He's not anxious the way I am, and this is curious to say the least despite his intense desire to end Aro's reign over us all.

"Rosalie, stay with Esme, Alice and Jasper," Carlisle orders. "Emmett and I will clear the way, and once it's safe, you should be able to make it without any complications."

"And if there are any?" I ask, to which they all look at me like I've lost my mind.

"We all know what to do," he says in response to my question. "Just stay here."

The northwest tunnel comes into view then, and I can already see three guards pacing in front of the entrance. There's no telling how many more are inside along the tunnel to the main hall. Carlisle and Emmett go forward while I stay behind with Rosalie, Esme and Alice. From my vantage point, I watch as the guards are easily dispatched. But none of us move from our hiding place.

Carlisle and Emmett enter the tunnel once the guards are down, but I can sense more. Many more. It seems that Aro has increased security in anticipation of our — my arrival. Just then, Alice gasps softly and grabs my arm.

"Something's happened," she says. "It's Emmett. We have to go. Now."

I don't hesitate, rising to my feet and shooting off toward the tunnel as it sets unguarded. The four of us make it passed the outer defenses without meeting any guards, but then we come to where Carlisle has hidden behind a midway barrier with Emmett on the ground in front of him. Rosalie runs ahead of me and falls to her knees.

"No!" she screams.

"He's alive," Carlisle assures her. "But one of the guards had an ability to multiply his strength, and he hit Emmett just once before I was able to use his power against him. We're almost to the main hall, but without Emmett, our chances have diminished greatly."

"I'll fight," Rosalie cries. "I'll kill every last one of these wretched sheep."

Esme kneels to Emmett's other side, touching his head and then his forehead before he suddenly opens his eyes to see us all there.

"Where is he?" he demands. "Did I get him?"

Carlisle laughs just once and helps Emmett to his feet. "Not exactly. But he won't be a problem anymore. We can't stop. Can you keep going?"

Emmett nods without hesitating. "I'm good."

None of us pause for much longer, moving around the barrier and making our way further down the tunnel.

Rosalie stays true to her word, using her telekinetic abilities on every guard that tries to stop us. Emmett teleports them away from the tunnel, and it's at this point that I sense a presence I haven't felt in several days.

At first, it's faint — deep within the castle. It's familiar and concentrated.

We reach the first set of heavy doors, and as soon as we get them opened, the tunnel forks to go further northeast or continuing south. Carlisle knows his way from here, leading us south and then east again before we meet Tanya, Irina and Katrina. I'm alarmed before anyone else, hurrying to her as sadness overwhelms her body.

"The other members of your coven," I yell. "What happened?"

"There were more guards in the underground tunnel than I anticipated," she cries, falling into my arms. "One of them had a power I have never seen. He could make more than one of himself, and he tricked Garrett. He killed him!" she screamed.

A soft sob slips from Katrina's lips, and I lift my eyes to her hoping to convey my sorrow for the loss of her mate.

"There was another woman," Tanya says, sobbing. "She made Carmen think Eleazar was hurt, and when they were both down, they opened a panel in the ceiling that shined with light so bright. I did not understand. The sun does not shine. But I stood and watched as they burned in the corridor. Burnt alive! I can still hear their screams," she whispers, grasping onto my arms as I hold her.

Another set of doors opens in the distance, and just as I look up, I see a new set of guards coming toward us.

"You're surrounded!" a guard yells. "There's no way out!"

They're almost within two hundred meters from us within seconds, and I help Tanya to her feet just as Kate turns to face them.

Her rage is crippling, and I'm barely able to remain standing as she inches closer to them.

"Good," she hisses through clenched teeth.

The arcs of electricity are small at first, coming from her fingertips and touching the walls beside her as she makes her way toward them. It's not very bright or hot, but soon, that changes. The guards stop their advance for a minute, obviously unsure how to handle what they're seeing. I've only seen Katrina's power on a minimal level — killing animals and starting fires. But this is much bigger than any of that.

Slowly, the bright, white-hot arcs grow until they reach the ceiling. Carlisle keeps his coven back, and I'm inclined to stand in front of Tanya and Irina as two of the arcs coming from Katrina's fingers hit two of the guards coming toward us. She doesn't stop there, aiming another two in the other direction and slamming two more guards to the floor. More and more guards keep coming, and I know one way or another, Katrina will get hurt or maybe even killed like her mate.

Someone has to stop her, but I don't see Carlisle making any moves to do so. It's not difficult to make the decision to make my way to the distraught vampire before she puts herself in a situation she won't come out of alive.

Alice yells just as I move, but it's too late because I clench my arms around Katrina a second before she goes down still shaking with the power inside her and then sobbing harder than anyone I've ever seen.

"Getting yourself killed is not what your mate would want for you," I whisper to her. "Edward wouldn't want it for me, and I wouldn't want it for him. You're in pain, and you have every right to be. I'm so sorry for what happened to him."

Her sobs grow in intensity, and I hold her tighter as a guard steps over us.

"Aro's been expecting you," he says, and then he grins.

I help Katrina to her feet, still holding her and feeling every ounce of sorrow tumbling off her body in concussive waves. It's almost as crippling as her rage was only seconds earlier, and she's barely holding it together. The guard in front of us doesn't care for her loss, holding a weapon in his hands that looks like a crossbow with small projectile solid metal bullets in the chamber. It's not meant to kill but injure, and I feel from him that he wants to use it but isn't allowed to unless given a direct order from Aro.

Instead, he's been told to take us all in alive. I can see it in his eyes.

Four more guards move in behind Carlisle and the others, and now that we're surrounded by Aro's guards, I realize that at least part of the plan worked. They'll believe we're unprepared, and this is what was expected of us. But I know Carlisle has something else planned for when we get to the main gathering hall.

My mind races from one corner to the other as I go over every piece of information I've gathered in the last several days. I know Carlisle was waiting for me and Edward to show up with Bella. He was counting on me being angry with him for meddling where he wasn't needed, and he knew I would do anything to get Edward back. What's mostly shocking about this was that he wasn't expecting me to feel such a connection with Bella. Her safety never figured into his grand plan, and in this way, I know she's only collateral damage to him. Whether she lives or dies doesn't matter to him.

This is what irritates me most about what he's doing. He talks about being governed by an iron fist and not wanting to take orders from Aro anymore, but the truth is, he's no better. Whenever I told him anything, he never really listened. He always had a hidden agenda to persuade me from doing anything that would jeopardize his way of doing things.

Now is no different.

He took my blood so he wouldn't have to keep me around to mimic my power. It's the same with Edward even though I know over time it won't be as strong as it would be if we stayed with him. But that's not happening. I've learned my lesson after the last week's worth of monumental betrayals. My place is no longer with him.

It's with Edward and Bella, and we'll make our own way in the world when this is over. That's the only truth I need right now.

We're much closer to the main hall than I originally believed, and the guard in front of us glances back at me and Katrina before opening the heavy marble doors that lead into the main gathering hall.

The first thing I notice is the tight circle of humans in the center of the room. They're all confused and scared, and a few of them look up to see our small group dragged into the room. I see a teenage girl probably no older than Bella and a young couple my age waiting for the slaughter that awaits them, and for the first time in three hundred years, I feel sorry for them.

I'm separated from Katrina almost immediately, and I yell before the vampire holding her gets too far away. "Don't hurt her! It wasn't her fault, please."

Whether my plea will be heeded to is unknown to me. Another minute passes, and as the rest of us is brought in, we're all forced to our knees to watch the carnage in front of us.

Or so I think.

"Jasper," Aro says, and he's suddenly in front of me. "So good to see you after so long."

He's pleased that I'm here, and I can only imagine why.

Now I can feel Edward and Bella very close. I cannot tell if they are unharmed, but I vow here and now that if one hair on either of their heads has been touched, nothing will stop me from ripping apart every vampire that participated in their violation.

"You always were so passionate," Aro continues, kneeling down so I can see him. "You know I always admired that about you. I was so sorry to see you go with Edward all those years ago, and it pains me so dearly to have to kill you now. But first, I want you to see something."

His games are nothing new to me. Even though I'm extremely experienced in Carlisle's playing, Aro completely puts him to shame.

It's true that Carlisle can be manipulative and cruel, but he can also be kind and compassionate. He's one of the few vampires I know with a truly dual personality. His harshness is a result of the vampire who made him, and because no consideration was given to his teaching, Carlisle had to learn everything on his own. For a time, he forgot what it meant to be human, as most vampires do. But with me, he learned again. He was still harsh at times and didn't always like restraining himself, but it was never nearly as bad as it had been before.

Aro is a completely different entity altogether. He's completely shut off every good human emotion there is. All he knows is rage, hatred, desire and lust. For the better part of a thousand years, Aro has literally ruled the vampire world with an iron fist, administering his cruelty on a global scale that's unheard of to humans. His reach doesn't just extend to killing. He tortures and coerces and turns friends into enemies. Every vampire in his service has his brand, his signature, because they're all like him.

Another door inside the gathering hall opens then, and instinctively, I turn my head to see who's joining us.

The first person I see is a petite brunette almost the same size as Bella. I recognize her, but I don't know why.

And then I see Edward and Bella for the first time in several days.

They're alive. But there is something different about Edward. His scent is the same, but he's different.

This is when I know that Aro has gone too far, and I want to kill him myself.

* * *

_**Hmm. That sounds oddly comforting. What do you think Jasper sees about Edward?**_

_**We'll find out in the next chapter, so tell me you're theories. And we'll be revising the updating schedule for now until I get my other stories under control.  
**_

_**So the next update will be in a couple of weeks.  
**_

_**Have a great day!  
**_


	16. Discoveries

_**My plans to update this yesterday, but I was stuck in babysitter land watching Season One of Once Upon A Time and sharing a tv with a six-year-old. I managed to get this edited, so I hope you all like it.  
**_

_**We're now in the clutches of Aro's castle, so what happens might not be what you expect. And right now, I can't make any promises.  
**_

_**This is still in Jasper's perspective.  
**_

_**I don't own Twilight, but if I did, they would have been real vampires or none at all.  
**_

_**Enjoy!  
**_

* * *

_**Discoveries**_

"My friends," Aro says with a happy chuckle. "So good of you to come. I wish I could give each of you my personal attention, but I regret I must see to some rather nasty business first. Felix, if you will."

With Edward and Bella close to me, my instincts are shifting to protect them. But I can't move.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Felix moving through the crowd of humans, touching one here or there and then glancing around the room at his coven — and those of us kneeling at Aro's mercy.

Slowly, every human rises to move within arm's length of a vampire, while one remains next to Felix. This is their feeding process. These humans have no idea what's about to happen, but like Edward, they're being made to believe they have no choice.

I glance at Edward, silently asking if he's all right. His head tips forward, and he holds Bella's hand tighter. This allows me to relax a little, but I want him in my arms. I want him and Bella out of here. I want to rip Aro apart with my bare hands. Before I can, the teenage girl comes toward me and looks at Aro before kneeling in front of me.

"You're must be famished, my friend," Aro says to me, gripping my shoulder. "One last meal?"

Stubbornly, I shake my head though it's been a few days since I fed. All I've cared about has been getting Edward and Bella back, even with Tanya's help.

The girl in front of me scoots closer, and Aro reaches out to cut her neck with his sharp, long fingernail. Instantly, bright red blood pours from her wound. Resistance becomes more difficult as the seconds tick by.

My thirst builds as she nears me until it's almost unbearable. My conscience keeps screaming at me — telling me I don't kill innocent people. I don't take innocent lives. I'm not cruel, and I don't torture my victims.

But I'm quickly losing sight of that as more blood spills.

"Jasper, please," Aro says in a mocking tone. "It pains me to see you this way."

He wants to see me weak in front of Edward, and I can't understand why.

_It's all right, Jasper._

Edward's voice in my mind startles me at first, and I avert my eyes to him. His skin is so vibrant, and I can sense blood coursing through his body. More than that, I can hear something inside him I've only heard one other time — when I found him three hundred years ago.

It's his stomach.

And while his heart has always beat inside his chest, now it's pounding and pumping blood all over his body. It's hot and self-sustaining.

I know this has something to do with why he's so different, but is too far away for me to know for sure.

_You'll need it for the journey away from here._

His resolve gives me resolve, and without waiting for Aro to toy with me again, I reach for the girl in front of me and pull her into my arms. I lick up the blood on her neck as it soaks her shirt, and then I whisper in her ear.

"I'm sorry," I say before feeling my fangs descend, and I lean forward to bite her instantly.

Her blood is sweet and satisfies the thirst inside me almost instantly. I drink from her differently than I did a few days earlier, draining the last drop in less than a minute and feeling full for the first time in days. Her body goes limp in my hands, and her skin immediately begins to cool. My eyes glance around the room to see the other humans as they're also drained. The vampires who kill them, other than Tanya, her sisters and Carlisle and his coven, all throw their bodies away. Then I turn to see Edward holding Bella close to him as she hides her eyes against his chest.

"Very good, my friend," Aro exclaims. "And the rest of your band has also done very well. So well in fact that I find it unnecessary to kill you. And to make it easier for you, all you have to do is agree to stay here indefinitely."

His threat carries the weight of something I've never felt with Carlisle. I know I can leave Carlisle whenever I want, even if I know now that one day our paths will more than likely cross again. But if Aro is sparing me for the forfeiture of my freedom, then I know he won't ever let me go again. If I agree, I will probably stay here for the rest of my days. But if I leave, I know my days will be numbered.

I can't leave Edward here, and I know neither of us can be away from Bella.

"Jasper," Aro says to me, and I lift my eyes to his. "If you stay here, I promise to return your Edward and Bella. You'll all be so happy here. I promise you'll all have everything your hearts' desire."

I don't know what to do. I want Edward with me. I want Bella with us both, but I don't want them to be here. I want them safe.

"I'll do what you want," I say, and Aro smiles. "But I want to have Edward in my arms now, not later."

He backs away from me and gestures to Edward and Bella. "Of course."

"Jasper, no!" Alice yells. "Please. It's a trick."

Slowly, I stand up, leaving the teenage girl at my feet and seriously thinking about ignoring Alice's warning. The blood inside me is threatening to overpower my logic and the ability I've always had to think before I act. It takes every ounce of control I have to stop myself from moving closer to my mates.

_Mates._

Just like Tanya called them. And now I know it's true. They're mine, and I have to show that to Aro. He has to know he can't control me.

"I want you to release them to me," I demand, standing outside his reach and making sure he knows he can't manipulate me into doing this his way.

A shaky breath passes his lips, and I can sense his agitation. But he doesn't deny me, stepping further away and nodding to the vampire holding them. Edward's posture relaxes considerably, and he steps away from the vampire with Bella in his arms to make his way to me. It takes less than a minute for him to reach me, and as soon as he does, I turn to Bella to take her in my arms.

"I knew you would come for us," she cried, holding me tighter than I remember from the last time I held her.

Her heat envelopes me and stirs my thirst again, but it's more important that she's safe. It's more important that she seems to be all right even after being near Aro for the last several days. It feels so much better to hold her than I thought it would, and when I lean back to look at her, all I want is to take her away from this place. She's happy to see me and more relieved to be in my arms than it seems possible.

"Of course I would come for you," I tell her, lifting my eyes to look at Edward. "You two are the only ones that matter to me right now." I lean closer to her to hold her against me, showing Edward my thoughts so no one else would know just yet. _I swear to you I will do everything in my power to get us out of this. No one will ever hurt either of you again._

Edward nods as minutely as he can, and I lean back to look at Bella again, silently telling her it's all right before I step closer to Edward.

He's so much warmer than I expect. Usually right after he feeds, he's warm from the blood he's consumed, but this heat is very different from anything I've felt. My hand moves on its own, and then the tips of my fingers touch his cheek. His skin is so hot to my touch. He feels . . . human.

Slowly, I lay my palm over his cheek, feeling his pulse beneath his skin and absolutely astonished to realize that his heart is beating so much faster than it was the last time I saw him. Why does he feel this way? What has been done to him for this to be possible? He wraps his hand around my arm, and his heat spread through my skin to my muscles and my bones.

The same way Bella's does.

"Jasper," Edward whispers, inching closer to me until the warmth from his body begins its path through my chest. "It's all right. I promise."

His words do not soothe me.

Instead, they infuriate me.

In the same moment, I do two things, stepping forward to take Edward in my arms and turning all my anger toward Aro.

"What have you done?" I demand.

My anger does not surprise him. Instead, he smiles. "I did exactly what you knew I would," he says, like it's nothing. Like he doesn't care that he's experimented on innocent victims of my own stupidity.

I have to hold Edward tighter to keep from moving forward and striking Aro the way I want for his arrogance. "You could have killed them both," I yell. "What gives you the right to do this? They weren't yours to experiment with."

"That's exactly what they are," he says with a shrug. "And it has paid off in spades. Do you really think I would allow such a thing to occur if I believed it would not go the way I intended? Honestly, Jasper. I thought you knew better than that."

Aro makes a move closer to us, and I choose that moment to let go of Edward and pull Bella behind me.

"I know you tried to keep me here three hundred years ago when I brought Edward here," I say, glaring at him and wishing I could manipulate him the way he's done to the ones I love. "I know you've been killing and torturing and manipulating every human that comes through your doors, and I know you've enjoyed it. You think we're all your playthings. I might have agreed to remain here with Edward and Bella, but that doesn't mean I'm doing it for you."

He chuckles softly, obviously thinking on what I've said and deciding it's not threatening enough to warrant one of his own. Edward suddenly reaches out to grab my arm, pulling me back to keep me close to him, and I know it's because he's seen a thought of Aro's that frightens him. I can only imagine what it is.

"Tell me what you did to him," I demand from Aro. "Why is he like this?"

Again, he shrugs. "I wished to know if Isabella's blood would severely injure your dear Edward," he says, again like it's nothing. "And when it did not, I wanted to see if he would survive the transition. The results could not have been better, especially now that the process is completely irreversible. And remarkably enough, Isabella's body absorbed the virus when it entered her bloodstream. She is rather unique in her abilities."

"She's just a girl!" I yell. "Not something to experiment with. You had no right to do this to them simply because you were curious whether it would kill either of them."

"Jasper," Edward pleads. "Stop. It's all right. I promise. I can show you."

While still keeping an eye on Aro, I turn to face Edward, unsure what he means and unprepared for the bombardment of images as they fill my mind.

At first, it's jumbled. I see him alone and pacing inside a claiming chamber. His mind and the hours he counted tells me he was alone for almost a day. When they brought Bella back to him, he was equally furious as I am now. Aro threatened him with visions of my death to gain his submission, and Edward reluctantly mated with Bella before biting her. The blood he took in from her heated his body to near boiling before it released him, and when it was finished, he was changed. He was different.

But he's not human. He's too warm to be human, and he still retains his mind reading abilities in their basic form while they've also grown to where he can show me his thoughts along with being able to see mine. He isn't certain if this is a permanent development, but he's scared of how I would react to this.

When the vision stops, my eyes focus on his, seeing their brilliant green hue, and I know one thing for certain. He is still my Edward. There might be changes in him that I don't understand right now, but he still loves me and wants me. Nothing could make me happier. He hears this pass through my mind, and it overjoys him. Whatever Aro wanted, he hasn't accomplished just yet. I know if we stay here, this change will only become worse. But how do I keep Aro from tracking us down and killing us if we leave?

"It's all right, Jasper," Edward whispers.

I know he's right, and I step forward to take him in my arms again. It doesn't matter what Aro does. He can try to separate us, but it won't work. I understand that now.

My eyes avert from Edward to the girl who came in with him and Bella, and she looks at me without moving any closer to us. I'm not sure why she looks so familiar, and I don't know why I recognize her scent. In all my four hundred years, I've never seen her face or been in her presence. But she's . . . happy to see me.

This is confusing.

"Who are you?" I ask her.

She glances around the room, suddenly frightened and then uncertain.

Slowly, I turn away from Edward and move the few feet between us to her side. Her fear and uncertainty increases the closer I get, and she continues to glance around the room until I'm standing in front of her. It takes only a small movement to touch her face, and the moment I do, a new image of her flashes through my mind.

She's in different clothes in my image, and her hair is pulled back into a braid. She seems to know me, and she's smiling in my image. Where do I know her from?

"I haven't seen you in three hundred years," she says, also smiling. "You look exactly the same."

"How do I know you?"

She glances around one last time, bowing her head and speaking as she looks up at me again. "I was here the day you brought Edward here to claim him. I observed your claiming, and I walked you out of the castle. It's natural for your memory of me to fade over time. I kept Edward and Bella safe while they were here. They knew you would come for them."

Her words are strange, especially since I don't remember anyone observing us or walking us out of the castle. But her face in my mind is very clear. This is so confusing.

_She's a friend, Jasper,_ Edward tells me. _That's all you need to know._

I lift my eyes to his, understanding that there is more to what he is saying and knowing not to say anything.

"I remember now," I say, obviously meaning for Aro to not know what has transpired. Because his power can only work when he touches his victims, I can keep this knowledge from him a little while longer. Then I turn to face him. "I'll do it," I tell him. "I'll stay. But I want something for my sacrifice."

Aro smiles deviously. "Of course," he nods. "Please. Anything you wish."

While staying next to my new friend, I look at Edward and Bella, absolutely positive of what I'm about to say.

"Whatever happened to Edward, I want it to happen to me."

The devastation in Edward's eyes is enough for me to know that whatever has happened to him is permanent. This makes my resolve even stronger.

"That will be very difficult," Aro says. He pauses for a minute. "But if this is what you want, then of course, I will do everything in my power to make sure you have it."

His agreement stuns me. For a moment, I was sure he was going to say no, but this means something else now.

Aro has probably only truly wanted one member of his coven — his mate Sulpicia. All the others either came to him or found him and wanted to be a part of his coven because he promised them power. I can see in his eyes that he wants more than just me or Edward. He wants Bella too, though I can't understand why.

He's planning something, and I don't like the way this feels.

* * *

_**I wonder exactly how that's going to work. Surely, Jasper has to know what will happen, right?**_

_**Next chapter will be up in a couple of weeks, I hope, and we'll be back in Edward' perspective. Should be interesting.  
**_

_**Let me know what you think, and I'll be plotting my next move.  
**_

_**Have a great day!  
**_


	17. Surprise Attacks

_**I know, I know. It's been a while. But since I've been off this week, I've been working tirelessly on all my stories to get them to you with the best quality possible.  
**_

_**There's a little bit of violence in this one, and some blood too, but that's why there's an "M" rating, dears.  
**_

_**I don't own Twilight, but trust me when I say these are MY kind of vampires.  
**_

_**See you at the bottom!  
**_

* * *

_**Surprise Attacks**_

Listening to Aro agree to Jasper's terms stuns me more than I thought it possibly could, and I'm uncertain why. I should've expected this, especially with as insistent Aro was that it happen to me. The last thing I expected was for Jasper to even want something like this, but he is my mate. I can hear his thoughts just as clearly now as I could before, and he is most assuredly more certain of this than anything else. But it not just me he wants now.

It's Bella.

And I know why too.

It's not just my heart he hears beating faster than it ever has since he found me, and it's not just the heat coming off my skin. He senses the tight bond between Bella and I now, and though he isn't jealous, he wishes to have that bond with me and her as well. This is something I cannot fault him for. Right now, he's acting mostly on his instincts, just as I did upon leaving Carlisle's apartment with Bella.

But those same instincts are what brought me here, and they're what caused me to end up like this. I'm not so sure that following them right now is really the best thing.

Without thinking, I glance around the room to see Carlisle and his coven still being held by members of Aro's guard, and I also see a new group of vampires in their midst. Like Chelsea, however, they have Carlisle's sense about them, and their thoughts are mostly centered on three unfamiliar faces. It takes another minute for me to realize that these faces are the ones of those who died getting Carlisle into the castle.

Before I can say anything, Aro speaks as he moves closer to us.

"There is much to be done, my friends," he says. "And it will take some time. The sooner we get started, the better, I say. Yes?"

Instantly, I feel hands clamp around my arms meant to pull me away from Bella, and another guard moves in to take Jasper away. Their intentions are clear in their minds as it has become obvious in Aro's mind as well.

_Another test._

For me. For Bella. For Jasper.

"No," I plead softly. "Not separately. He'll kill her."

Whether I'm meaning Jasper or Aro, I don't know right now. I just know that if I leave Bella's side, there's a good chance I won't see her again. This is something I know I cannot bear.

The distance between us grows slowly as we're pulled apart, and it feels almost like torture to watch Bella slip away until I can no longer touch her.

_Not again!_

This stray thought comes from Carlisle's mind, and in no less than three seconds, he overpowers the guard holding him by ripping his heart out before charging across the room to grab Aro and then overpower him as well.

It all happens so fast, and I don't know how I'm able to see it because I don't think I would have were I still a vampire.

The guards don't know what to do, having obviously underestimated their place and now forced to watch as Aro is help captive.

"I'm sorry, old friend," Carlisle whispers, grabbing Aro's throat and then his forehead to seemingly take his head off.

Instead, something else unexpected happens as a vibrant, bloody vision flows from Carlisle's mind into Aro's. In it, I see Alice ripped apart and Emmett bludgeoned to death. Rosalie kills Sulpicia, and Esme slices Caius' body in half with a sword from the throne platform where he's currently sitting. These new blond women all kill their captives before converging on Marcus as well, and in seconds, the Volturi are finished — all because Aro underestimated Carlisle's need for freedom when he was first turned almost six hundred years ago.

The guard holding me becomes more pliable as the seconds pass, and it's only too easy to drive my hand into his chest where his cold heart is barely beating. Blood spurts from his wound, but he barely has a chance to fight me. Jasper is the same, ripping off the head of his guard and then kicking the dead body away as Carlisle continues to hold Aro by the head.

"You told me once that we were the same," Carlisle says to him. "You told me no one would ever be able to overthrow you because we were all afraid of you. But I never was. And I always knew you were vulnerable. You tried to persuade me to stay with you after you pardoned me, and at the time, your offer was tempting, I'll admit that. Now, I have what I want. What I've always wanted. Jasper and Edward have it, and you took it away from Kate tonight. We each have something you'll never have, and I'm ashamed to say that I used it to my advantage because of you. No more."

Slowly, the color from Aro's already pale face begins to fade, and his hold on Carlisle's arms tightens ever so slightly as the seconds pass. His slowly beating heart lurches and sputters, and the oxygen in his lungs escapes with every precious breath and movement as he struggles. But he's helpless to fight Carlisle. It's easy to see what the younger vampire is doing to the elder, especially since I saw Esme use it to disable Jasper the night Carlisle decided to put this plan into motion.

"Carlisle," Aro wheezes. "You cannot kill me. I am the only one who can keep order amongst us. You know this."

There is no stopping Carlisle now that he's begun. I know this, and it's only a matter of time before Aro knows it too.

The blood in his veins stops cold, and the last bit of his air leaves his lips before Carlisle drops him to the floor. With more resolve than I saw upon my first meeting him, Carlisle stalks over to where a set of axes is mounted on the wall. I know they're razor-sharp without having to think on it, and while everyone else watches, Carlisle proceeds to decapitate Aro's head from his body.

It's at this point that I stand up from the guard I just killed and step over to Bella again. Despite the blood on my hands, I take her in my arms again where I know she's safe, and Jasper joins us after less than half a minute, holding my gaze with his and still more certain than ever of what he wants.

"So," Caius says, still sitting in his chair and watching with a sneer of his pale face. "You wish to take Aro's place among us. Surely, you know how impossible that will be. There are hundreds of our guard all over the world, Carlisle. None of them will follow you. And neither will I."

This speech barely deters Carlisle as he moves toward Caius. Slowly, his mimicking power diminishes, but his strength and resolve increases to insurmountable proportions. He chooses instantly between Caius and Marcus as the other elder also still remains sat, lifting the ax that just killed Aro and instantly swinging it again.

The blade hits its mark in the side of Marcus' neck, and Caius' pale face twists into an expression of pure evil. He's also confused as to how Carlisle is still able to utilize any of his strength as he stands so close to Caius.

_Impossible!_

"You see, my dear Caius," Carlisle says. "You can only negate the part of my power that I must exert when mimicking someone else's power, and usually, it takes much more time for me to do it myself. But I've learned to focus my power onto one person, and I've been focusing on you this entire time — until I killed Aro, that is. I always was more powerful than the three of you gave me credit, and I've been planing this for a _very_ long time. Long before Alice saw Jasper coming. Long before I even found him myself. You should have never underestimated me."

From the other side of the room, I see out of the corner of my eye as Felix moves from where he's been holding Emmett, and again, it takes just a few seconds for Carlisle to act as he lifts the ax a third time and throws it out with near perfect precision. The metal slams into Felix's chest and knocks him down with a deafening thud that shakes the floor, and Carlisle moves down the steps to finish the kill by also taking off Felix's head.

"That," he huffs with the final blow, "is for what you did to Edward."

He stands up then and turns around to find me with his gaze, and I'm a little stunned. I thought I was just another game piece to move around for him. As this thought passes through my mind, Carlisle shakes his head and turns back to face Caius.

"Now," he says, moving up the steps again. "It's just you, and now that it's just you, you're going to do exactly what I say. And I won't need my power to make you do it."

Caius clenches his jaw, glaring up at Carlisle. "You really are a fool," he accuses. "How can you honestly expect me to bow to you now? You've just ensured that no vampire you meet after today will abide by the laws that have kept our kind in check for the last two millennia. And if you thought I would do so out of self preservation, you're mistaken."

Carlisle grins. "It's not because you'll want to preserve your life," he amends. "It's because if you don't do what I say, I'll tell all those vampires that you not only allowed Aro to be killed, but it was you who made them run away in fear for their lives and the lives of everyone they cared for — not just vampires, but humans as well. I'm sure they'll be very interested in taking your head after that."

The glare on Caius' face fades a little, and his thoughts simplify until all I know is that he never cared for Aro and didn't appreciate having to keep the lot of us in order. He wanted me to stay when I was brought here three hundred years ago, and he wanted Jasper to be disposed of as they already had a member of the guard with his power. This should infuriate me, but now that I'm standing here with Jasper and Bella close to me, it only irritates me that he ever thought Jasper wasn't valuable enough to keep alive.

"Even if I do anything you want," Caius argues, "what makes you think any of the guards around you will let you leave after what you've done. They were all loyal to Aro, and you'll have a very difficult time convincing any of them to follow you."

Still grinning, Carlisle steps a little closer. "Well, as you've noticed, I can overpower you, and if I wanted, I could kill you just as easily as I killed Aro and Marcus. Then there would be nothing stopping me from killing them as well. If they value their lives outside this prison, I'm sure they wouldn't be able to stop me from doing whatever I want."

I take a minute to look around the room as the remaining guards loosen their hold on Carlisle's coven and the three blondes. They're all thinking that Caius can't control what's left of them, and they're nervous about where this stalemate of Carlisle's will leave them if Caius doesn't surrender. With Jasper and Bella close, I look at him and let him know that if we don't leave soon, we won't ever get out of here.

His hold on me and Bella tightens, and Carlisle glances at us before he grabs Caius by the collar and pulls him to his feet.

While Caius is older than Carlisle, he hasn't been feeding off the members of his coven — even if it is figuratively. Carlisle has the combined powers of four very powerful vampires inside him, and it makes him much stronger than most of us, except me of course. Caius looks stunned by Carlisle's strength, and his own ability becomes meager in the face of a much more powerful creature he allowed to get away nearly six hundred years earlier.

"I'll let you live," Carlisle says to Caius, "and you'll start doing things better than before because if you don't, I won't hesitate to take your head myself."

Caius sneers and then smirks. "Better because you want to feed on whomever you want as often as you want, and you want to make more vampires so that we outnumber the humans two to one."

"No," Carlisle says, and his soft tone surprises me. "That's what you want. It's what you've always wanted. You kill more humans now in a day than I did in a month as a newborn. And I stopped killing a very long time ago. I'm doing this so I can stop living in fear every time I find a human dying who deserves to live and when I see a vampire torturing their victim into begging for death. Believe what you want, because if I let you live, you'll do as I say or die anyway."

Slowly, Esme steps away from the guard who was holding her, and she moves across the room to where Carlisle is standing with Caius in his hands.

"Not yet," Carlisle says.

Esme glances back at me, obviously seeing that I've changed and wondering how such a thing is even possible. She looks up at Carlisle and lifts her hand to his shoulder, communicating with him silently.

"Well," he says, "perhaps a little."

A slight grin crosses Esme's face, and she extends her hand until it nearly touches Caius' face.

"Wait," the elder vampire pleads.

"For what?" Carlisle asks. "What do you plan on doing if I don't have her kill you right now?"

Caius' eyes skim around the room at the other guards, and he tries to think of a way out of this mess. He's looking at the exits and the fact that they still outnumber the rest of us, and for a split second, he thinks there might be a way to still outsmart Carlisle's advance.

Gently though, Esme caresses his cheek with her finger and then her thumb, and gently, his slowly beating heart begins to slow down. Even with his power to negate others' powers, she's slowly breaking through the barrier of his thick exterior with Carlisle negating him. Caius begins to lose consciousness, and his thoughts simplify again.

"I'll do it," he cries like a wanton child. "Just please stop. Aro was ignorant and selfish. He was weak in his love for you, and I told him to let you die. I told him to kill you when we discovered you. It was his doing, and his alone. I cared not for his quest to control you, and if it had been me, I would've ended your suffering a very long time ago."

Carlisle grins. "And this is meant to make me let you live," he taunts. "You're admitting to every reason why I should kill you."

"Only if I planned to follow through with my desire to be rid of you. If you let me live, I'll do whatever you wish. There won't be a vampire in the world who will not bow to you, and I will ensure that. I deserve to live because it was I who allowed you to leave with Jasper. I did not need him here, therefore he would have died if I had not persuaded Aro to let him go. Consider that before you behead me."

It looks like Carlisle won't listen, especially as he gazes around the room at the rest of his coven.

"I'll want two things before I decide whether to let you live," Carlisle says after a minute.

"What?" Caius says, still sneering.

"Emmett!"

Slowly, Emmett moves up to where they're standing, taking a double-edge knife from his belt and handing it to Carlisle.

Again, in a few quick movements, he nods to Esme, and she grabs Caius' head to hold him still. Emmett grabs Caius' right hand and then his left, and Carlisle barely hesitates, slicing through flesh and bone to remove both hands and instantly making Caius unable to move once he's been released to the floor.

I turn Bella away so she won't see, now even more sure than I had previously been that we need to leave as soon as we possibly can.

Jasper silently agrees with me, but right now, we can't do anything.

"Now you can live," Carlisle says to Caius.

Blood from inside Caius' body spread over the marble floor until he's laying on his side gasping for air. He won't die, but he'll be incapacitated for a very long time.

"What now?" Emmett asks.

"We'll give him a little while to simmer," Carlisle says and turns to face me as I stand with Bella and Jasper. "I'm sure there's a supply of blood around here for him somewhere. Keep an eye on him."

Emmett nods, and Carlisle steps down from the platform, his certain strides bringing him to be in front of me.

"Are you all right, Edward?" he asks.

"Do you care?" I retaliate.

He scoffs and shakes his head, but then nods. "Of course I care. This has happened to you more than any of us. I never really knew exactly what Aro would do, but I feared the worst. You're lucky to be alive." His eyes find Bella's as she clutches to me tightly. "You both are."

"And now you'll keep us here indefinitely?" I ask, slightly terrified of the way he's looking at me and Bella.

He laughs softly. "Of course not," he says shaking his head again.

"Then you'll let us go," I say. "Please."

For once, I'm afraid he'll be worse than Aro. He sees that I'm different, and he wants to know why. But if he's not like Aro, he'll listen to me.

* * *

_**And let me just say that there's more in store for Carlisle than a bit of grandstanding, so just bear with me.**_

_**The next update might be a ways off, but fret not. We're finishing this one if it kills me.  
**_

_**Everybody have a happy Thanksgiving!  
**_

_**Later!  
**_


	18. New Companions

_**Merry Christmas Eve! Okay, so I know it's not really supposed to be like that, but what? It's better early than late, right?  
**_

_**This chapter picks up literally right after the last one when Edward pleaded with Carlisle to be let go. Will it happen?  
**_

_**I hope you're all having a great holiday, and there's more at the bottom!  
**_

* * *

_**New Companions**_

The look on Carlisle's face and the thoughts in his mind are enough for me to know that he doesn't want to let any of us go, even if it's what we want.

"It's not safe out there for you, Edward," he says as an argument. "The members of Aro's coven left will hunt you down and torture you until you die." His eyes flow from me to Bella and then Jasper. "And now that you and Bella are both stronger than you were before, they'll know to work even harder to make sure you die. Staying here for now is the only way to keep you all safe."

"We can take care of each other now," I yell. "I don't need you to do anything for us, and we don't want you to do anything anymore. You've done enough. You have your reward. If you don't let us go, don't think for an instant I won't provoke you until you'll have no choice but to leave us alone!"

The calm expression on Carlisle's face fades slowly, and he glances at the members of his own coven before backing away a few steps and speaking again. "This citadel is a fortress. Any of Aro's men would be foolish to attack now, especially after we close off all but one entrance to the underground tunnels. Where will you go? Back to Forks? How long will you be able to stay there until the people become suspicious of you? A few years?"

"That's none of your concern!" Jasper yells.

"But it has to be," Carlisle says, his voice still calm despite his expression. "There is only so much that can be done for you once you've left here, and if I allowed you to leave without making sure at least some of that was done, then if you were caught and died, it would still be on my hands. And I won't allow that."

"Please."

Bella's tiny voice startles us all, and in that second, Carlisle steps forward to touch her the way he wanted when he met her. My instincts to protect her are stronger now than they were before, and the instant I growl, Esme stops him.

"Darling," she says. "Perhaps it would be best to let them leave."

He looks at her, and she nods toward me.

"He can take care of Bella," she says. "And I'm sure Jasper will see to it that he's able to care for them both. I think it's better for them to look after each other instead of being kept here until all of Aro's men are handled. Don't you?"

The way she looks at him and the look he gives her tells me that they're communicating silently in a way that I can't sense, but it appears to be working nonetheless. No doubt they are coming to an agreement with a mere look or word that is unclear to me.

At the moment, I don't really care what they're saying with their eyes or what other meanings are coming in their words other than the obvious ones. If she can convince him to let us go, then she can communicate with him however she wants.

"Do you understand how it works?" he asks her as she's staring at me and Bella.

The thoughts in her mind gives me a clear vision of the changes that have taken place inside me, and she also senses a change in Bella that's unlike anything she's seen before. I don't understand it fully, but it appears that a small amount of the virus inside me has been absorbed into Bella's body, clearing her vision and piquing her hearing so that it's sharper than it was before. And while my body has warmed, my mind-reading abilities have also been sharpened because of her blood. Whatever we are, it's something Esme has never seen in all her years, but she understands it much better than I do.

After this exchange between us, she looks at Carlisle and nods. "I understand," she says. "If you let them go, I'm sure they'll be able to take care of themselves. We needn't worry about them right now. We have other problems that must be handled first." _It will give them time to think on what you've offered._

Her eyes find mine, and she almost pleads with me to not reveal this to Jasper. I don't say anything to him at that moment, but it doesn't mean I won't once we've left.

I know without thinking that Carlisle doesn't like the idea of any of us leaving. Now that he has our blood coursing through his veins, he feels like he owns us, but I can sense from him that he knows we're not as bound to him as we are to each other. It's not meant as a disrespect. It's just true. And I am more bound to Bella now that Jasper, no matter what Chelsea said. My own thoughts tell me that only once Jasper has this same bond to her will it truly be equal.

"Very well," Carlisle says to Esme and then looks at me. "You'll go. And once you're safe, you'll start to settle in to whatever life you want. But you'll see I'm right. It's inevitable."

His thoughts are plain enough for me to know he won't give us another chance like this, so without saying anything to Jasper, I pull Bella closer to him and back away from where Carlisle and Esme are standing. With a glance in Chelsea's direction, I ask her own decision, and she follows me away from the main gathering hall. I know I can trust her now, and she's of no use to Carlisle if her allegiances are with me and Jasper. When Carlisle sees this, he doesn't even try to stop her.

"Wait!"

Tanya's voice echoes around the hall as she moves from where she was standing to be closer to us. "Let me go with you," she says, pleading.

Curiously, I stare at her, uncertain what she's trying to accomplish. Kate and Irina are making no moves to join her, but she seems determined of what she's staying.

Indeed, Jasper doesn't even know what to make of her request, because he doesn't sense anything different about her — not even her ability to make people do what she wants.

"What about your coven?" he asks her.

She glances at her sisters. "My coven has been demolished. I don't have a reason to stay here as they do not, but the choice is theirs. I do not wish to remain here. Please let me come with you."

Jasper looks at me and Bella, thinking we might need her to get back to Forks, and even though he can't understand what she's doing, he knows she's telling the truth about not wanting to stay with Carlisle.

"Under one condition," he says.

"Anything."

"If we decide to leave you when we get back to Forks, you have to let us."

She bows her head. "Of course."

This is the last it's spoken of, and none of us look back at Carlisle or the others as we leave. We don't make our exit out of the main doors either. Instead we leave through the way Bella and I were taken to the main gathering hall, and Chelsea leads us to a passageway that was apparently hidden from outsiders.

"Only those of us who needed contact with other humans to practice our abilities knew of this way," she says. "Since Heidi would bring humans through the front, we couldn't practice on them before we fed. It was only me and a few others that would use this passage. It should be safe to use. But it is the middle of the night, and we won't get far before the sun rises. What do you propose then?"

I glance at Jasper, and he's obviously thinking the same thing I am.

"We'll have to find a place to stay for the day," I say as we walk.

This answer satisfies Chelsea, and she comes to the passageway's entrance, pulling a lever near the door to open it and then gesturing for us to go ahead of her so she can shut the door. It's dark inside the tunnel, and she lights a torch, again taking the lead so we can all leave the castle.

We seem to walk for several miles, but none of us get tired. In fact, Bella and I seem to be the only ones other than Chelsea that can see where we're going and when the end seems to be apparent. A longer, shallower tunnel that goes into the ground and appears to be wet is the one that will take us outside, and we all have to be careful not to slip as we climb down it to a pool that leads to the outside world. The water is cold and comes up to Bella's chest, but we all make it through okay, albeit very wet and in need of a change of clothes.

The streets are empty as we trek away from where we came out of the castle, and we have to make sure no one sees us as we make our way into the main part of the town where the humans all live. There are surprisingly a few hotels still available at this hour, and Chelsea and Tanya agree on one before we all go up to our room to wait out the day. The sun won't rise for another few hours, but it will be too difficult to find a place to stay in the country where we won't endanger other humans.

As it is, Jasper, Chelsea and Tanya will need to feed before we settle so they'll be strong enough to walk as far away from Volterra as possible during the short night that will be ahead of us.

"Can we have food brought up to us?" Bella asks me from where I've settled her over the lone bed of the room.

Her thoughts are plain as she's thinking about the people who will bring it up to us, and I can see where she's going with this even if I also know it will bring suspicion on us. Still, it's one of only a few options.

"No," Jasper says. "We'll leave the hotel and be back before the sun rises." He nods to Chelsea and Tanya, and without another word, they all leave the hotel room to take care of their needs.

Once we're alone, Bella curls up next to me and settles in to sleep while we're waiting. I find that I'm not very tired, so I wait up for the others.

While I'm alone with my thoughts, I try to get a feel for my abilities and their limitations. Around us, there are several people doing several things. A newly married couple is making love rather vigorously, and I swear I can hear the man thinking of another woman. It's odd but not unexpected, so I leave them alone. There's maid on another floor complaining about how much she's having to work and how little she's being paid, and she's worried that her children are missing time with her just so she can make ends meet for them. The concierge downstairs is having lustful thoughts about one of the assistant managers that he's training, and it stuns me a little to learn that this assistant is a man. I'm not sure why this surprises me, especially given my life with Jasper, but it just does.

The "practice" wears me out a little, and I'm almost asleep when Jasper, Tanya and Chelsea return from their excursion. Tanya immediately steps into the bathroom, and after a minute, Chelsea joins her. The door closes, and Jasper sits on the bed behind me to lay down and hold me in his arms while I'm holding Bella.

"Do I want to know?" I ask of Tanya and Chelsea.

"Don't worry about it," he says, idly caressing my brow and then kissing my cheek. "All that matters now is us."

"Will they help us?"

He nods and lowers his lips to my neck. "Of course," he whispers in my ear. "Now go to sleep. I just want to hold you."

I don't do or say anything else, closing my eyes as he huddles his warm body against mine still kissing my neck. I'm asleep within seconds.

Subconsciously, the thoughts I have while I sleep are ones I expect, but I also have a strange dream. I'm sitting in the middle of a field — a meadow, really, and there are hundreds if not thousands of multi-colored flowers blooming. The sky above is crystal clear and the most beautiful shade of blue, and the sun is shining down without a care, warming my skin and giving way to the happy feeling in my heart. Then the sound of a child laughing draws my attention. When I look, I see two children running toward me. The boy has hair like mine but darker, and the girl has light brown hair that's almost to her waist. This intrigues me, and they both laugh when they see me. Who are they? I'm about to catch them both when a hand grabs my shoulder to turn me around.

Instantly, I'm faced with Jasper as he sleeps in my arms, and I look around to see the hotel room I fell asleep in the night before. The window is alight with a white sheer curtain, and beneath it, I see Tanya and Chelsea also sleeping as their heads rest together. The image is strange but not at the same time, and I wonder what happened last night while they were out hunting. This is when I notice the bed in front of me empty, and the heart inside my chest speeds up instantly.

I sit up, ready to get out of bed when I hear the shower running in the bathroom. Though I still want to make sure Bella's okay, I'm relieved for a minute, laying back down and turning to face Jasper again. I'm not sure what time it is. Soon, Bella and I will have to eat. But right now, I'm only worried about the man in bed with me.

His features have only solidified in my brain during our separation, and I lift my hands to his face to caress his cheeks and then his brow, feeling him still warm but not nearly as much. If we don't leave tonight, he'll have to feed again, as will Tanya and Chelsea. I think back to what he said to Aro about wanting what happened to me to happen to him, and it breaks my heart a little to know what he's willing to put himself in harm's way just so he won't have to be different from me.

I still love him the way he is now. It's not his fault that I didn't have a choice in this.

We lay there until the shower stops, and when it does, he opens his eyes to see me there watching him. He smiles and leans forward to kiss me, pressing his forehead to mine and whispering against my lips.

"Wasn't expecting you to be awake," he says.

"Well, I don't need to sleep during the day anymore," I say simply.

This makes him lean back and lift his eyes to mine. The same look he had in them the night before returns as he searches my face.

"What does it feel like?" he asks.

"About the same," I say, adding, "but still different. My blood lust is gone, but I can smell better than I could. A hundred times better. It's the same with my sight and hearing too. And my ability is stronger now. I can hear so many different things now from so many different people, speaking all different languages."

He lifts his fingers to my forehead, rubbing and caressing. "And it doesn't hurt like it did before?"

"No," I say with a shake of my head. "Not even a little. I still haven't had a chance to truly test my body, but it feels amazing. I feel so alive, like every cell of my body is in overdrive."

The grin on his face is not a happy one, and the enthusiasm I'm feeling fades a little.

"Is that so?" he says, his voice sad and sarcastic.

"I'm sorry," I say quickly. "I didn't mean to — "

He stops me with his fingers on my lips. "It's all right. You had no control over this. Neither you nor Bella could've survived if you hadn't agreed to do this. I don't blame you. It's Aro and Carlisle whom I blame, and I want them to pay. And they will." He pauses, still rubbing and caressing my forehead. "Right now, all I want is to get both of you somewhere safe. I don't know where that is quite yet, but when we get there, I still want what I said to Aro. I won't live a life with you and not share it with you completely."

I can't hide my disappointment, and he wraps his arms around me to hold me closer.

"You disagree," he says, and I nod. "Why?"

"It's dangerous," I cry. "It's only by some strange coincidence that I survived, that Bella survived. I don't want to lose either of you, Jasper. Please. It's dangerous!"

He shushes me gently, pressing his nose to mine and leaning his lips in close without kissing me. "I know that, Edward," he whispers. "And that's why I want to do it. It won't kill me. It won't kill Bella. It will make us stronger."

"You don't know that," I say, still pleading. "It's not certain that it will work again."

"Actually, it is," Chelsea says from her spot on the floor with Tanya, who is still asleep.

"How?" I ask. "It has never been done before."

"But you're the proof, Edward," she says. "And so is Bella. You shouldn't doubt the way this happened. It happened because it was supposed to. Alice knew it would happen a long time ago. That's why it had to happen."

"For Carlisle?" I retort angrily.

"For everyone else," she says certainly.

Jasper cups my face in his hands, making me look at him. "Whatever the reason, we're together, and I've already made up my mind. When we're safe, this is what's going to happen. And I'll make sure it's safe for me and Bella, and you'll be there with us. Try not to worry about the future right now. We should be thinking about what we're going to do tonight when we leave."

The sigh that passes my lips isn't one of doubt, or even fear. I'm . . . relieved.

The door to the bathroom opens wider then, allowing Bella out in a towel from the cupboard, and with her hair wet over her shoulder, she looks incredibly vulnerable. I reach for her instantly, and she comes without hesitation, climbing onto the bed and then laying between Jasper and me where she clearly feels the safest. Her warmth spreads through me like it always has as she lays her back to my chest and faces Jasper with her head over his shoulder.

"Everything's going to be all right," he whispers to her, sensing an emotion in her that's not being reflected in her thoughts.

This is the last thing that's said until we have to order breakfast for Bella and me. She changes back into the clothes she had on the night before, and we eat by the window while Jasper rests a little more along with Chelsea and Tanya.

When the sun sets, we all decide to follow Tanya away from the city since she guided Carlisle here. As long as we're inside by dawn, we'll all be able to make it out of this alive.

* * *

_**Too easy? Maybe something else worse is lurking around the corner. Maybe, maybe not. I can't really say right now.**_

_**I do know this story won't be much longer than it is, perhaps a few more chapters to get Jasper, Edward and Bella settled. But I promise I'll finish this story, and then we'll see about where we stand, hmm?  
**_

_**Everybody have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! You guys rock!  
**_


	19. Homecoming

_**As I recall, I don't many people were convinced of Carlisle's intentions before, or completely trustworthy of Tanya's motives. I'm working on that, and right now, I'm trying to come up with a good-enough solution for everyone, including me.  
**_

_**A few things happen in this chapter that might seem strange, but I promise I'm working it all out in my head so that it makes sense later.  
**_

_**And as I keep forgetting to mention this, I don't own Twilight. It would be a whole new world if I did.  
**_

_**Other important stuff at the bottom!  
**_

* * *

_**Homecoming**_

After a day's walking, we make it to Florence. None of us are tired, but the sun is rising soon. Jasper and Tanya find us another hotel, and from there, it's just a matter of figuring out a newer, quicker way out of Italy. We can't very well walk all the way to Forks. We all know that will take far too long.

"Whichever way it is," Tanya says as we sit in our hotel room, "it must be inexpensive and give us a decent supply of humans to feed on. I would rather hunt in the wild, but in this particular instance, it simply isn't possible. I don't want to travel on foot as we did before. So that leaves us with trains or horse-drawn carriages."

"That will take too long," Jasper says of the carriages. "I want to be out of Italy before another two days pass."

This solves the problem of transportation, and with it, the decision of how Jasper, Tanya and Chelsea will feed before we leave the city when the sun sets again.

Bella is noticeably restless, and it is at this point that I know she needs to move around. It's still not safe for us, but a walk can't hurt.

"Be careful," Jasper says as we leave. "And come back before noon."

I nod in agreement, and Bella and I step out of the hotel room silently.

Though Jasper and I have already seen the world in the three hundred years we've been together, when I step outside with Bella in the morning sun as it shines on the bright, almost golden city of Florence, it's like I'm seeing it all with new eyes.

Everything is grander and more colorful. The smells are stronger and linger longer. The cool air even tingles my skin and makes every sensation feel brand new. With Bella at my side, I feel like I'm experiencing it all for the first time again. She's never been anywhere but her tiny corner of the world, and I want her to see so much more than that. Right now, it's clear that she wants to see as much as she can before we move on.

The people filling up the city all look so alive and perfect. Sunlight shines over every inch of the buildings around us. I'm so awestruck by my surroundings. It's like I haven't really been seeing any of it at all. Even the food is more enticing now than the most incredibly-smelling human I've ever tasted. That thought stops me for a minute as I realize that Bella was that human, and she will always be as she'll always be the last human I fed on.

Some of the people look at Bella strangely, and I realize that she's wearing dirty clothes. We stop at a clothing shop on the main street in town, purchasing her two new dresses and the shoes to match so she'll look just as good as the other women on the street. Bella convinces me that I need a new set of clothes as well, and it's only too easy for the shopkeeper to see this as well. In fact, the poor woman helping us can't seem to stop herself from staring at me and Bella at all. It is very strange.

When we make it back to the hotel, my arms are filled with clothes and things for Bella and I that nearly every storekeep we encountered were unable to resist giving us. I don't know if it's my mind-reading abilities growing and something inside Bella making itself known to them. But I've selfishly taken advantage of their generosity, especially the woman in the jewelry store who smiled at me and kept thinking about doing disrespectful things to me and Bella.

Jasper is asleep over the bed when I help Bella back inside our hotel room. Tanya and Chelsea are nowhere to be found, and for a moment, I honestly believe they've left us to our devices to save themselves. But then I hear strange sounds coming from the bathroom. This hotel room is a little bigger than the previous one, and I send Bella to sit with Jasper while I check the bathroom that I'm now sure holds our other two companions.

What I see stuns me even though it really shouldn't.

The fact that both Tanya and Chelsea are naked isn't what stuns me. No, what really surprises me is that they're not only kissing but also biting each other. I know from what Jasper has told me that this only happens when two vampires that are already made find each other and seek the kind of companionship they can when they have no real ambition to make a mate for themselves.

Something else I realize as I watch them is that I knew it the morning previous when I discovered them sleeping close together under the window. Stray thoughts in their minds reveal to me the circumstances of their hunt the other night when they were out with Jasper, and the man who attacked Chelsea is proof enough of Tanya's sudden devotion, especially as she was the one to fight him off before they both fed on him.

After a minute, I feel like I'm intruding on them, so I leave them alone, opting to follow Bella to where she has stripped to her underdress and laid down on the bed with Jasper. He's not yet aware of her, but when she sees me, she reaches for me to lay down with them. I go to her instantly, laying down behind her and wrapping my arms around her.

"We'll be safe at home, won't we?" she whispers after a minute.

I kiss her cheek gently and hold her closer to me. "I hope so," I say, and it seems to be enough for her at the moment.

Jasper wakes up just before the sun goes down as the western horizon is on the opposite side of the hotel room we're staying in, and Tanya and Chelsea come out of the bathroom dressed. There's a look in Tanya's eyes like she knows I saw them, but she doesn't say anything and neither do I.

"How long have the two of you been back?" Jasper asks as he, Bella and I remain on the bed.

"Since noon," I say. "But we bought Bella new clothes and food for the train ride. And we should leave soon."

"Yes," Tanya agrees. "So perhaps you should all get out of bed."

We all look at her, but she's smiling, obviously teasing.

It takes no time at all for us to get ready, and we're checking out of the hotel before an hour passed sunset. The man at the counter looks at me and Bella the same way all the shopkeepers did, and when I read his thoughts, I suddenly know why.

"What's wrong?" Jasper asks as we walk to the train station.

"All these people are looking at me and Bella strangely," I tell him.

"Strange like how?"

"Like they want to be what we are. It's almost the opposite of how people used to look at us as vampires. They're not repelled by it. They're attracted to it."

This gives him pause, and he looks at Bella as she follows Tanya and Chelsea down the sidewalk. "And are you attracted to them?" he asks curiously.

I shake my head quickly even though I'm not sure. "No," I say before pausing myself. "I mean, I'm not sure. I can just see what's in their minds. That man back at the hotel was staring at me and Bella, and that was exactly what he thought. That he wanted what we have."

"Did you want to give it to him?" Jasper asks, grinning a little.

Sheepishly, I am unable to lie to him. "Maybe for a split second."

This amuses Jasper, and he has to fight his desire to kiss me as we walk down the sidewalk behind our female companions.

With Jasper and Tanya's abilities, we're able to get tickets there in the station that will reserve a larger cabin for all of us, and the man at the train marks our tickets before we board to find our cabin. As Bella and I have food, it's left the Tanya to find the humans they'll feed on through our trip. They won't be able to kill these humans, and we'll all have to be careful about sunlight, but it's a necessary evil to get out of the country safely.

Tanya returns with two young women and a young man, holding their hands and whispering softly to them. I can already see in their thoughts that she has them under her spell, and when they're shut inside the cabin, it's just a matter of keeping them comfortable so they don't get suspicious. One of the women looks at me as soon as she steps into the cabin, and she makes her way to me and Bella instantly.

Bella already seems to know what to do, scooting away to give this young woman room between us. Her instincts are taking over much faster than mine, but it doesn't worry me. I'm not sure why just yet.

"She's pretty," Bella says of the woman. "Isn't she, Edward?"

This is something I cannot deny, and I nod just once. "She is."

The first time Chelsea has to feed, she does so without any warning, biting the young man's neck and taking a little bit of blood to sustain herself through the noon hour. Our guests aren't alarmed thanks to Tanya and Jasper, and everything goes on like normal.

None of the attendants on the train stop at our cabin, and I know this is probably Tanya's doing. Bella and I share our food with the man and women with us, and they stay relaxed for the entire time we're on the train. A few times, I can see in Bella's mind what she wants, but if we do anything like that now, it won't be safe. It's with a lot a difficulty that I have to stop her from interacting with the woman between us like she wants. Somehow, she understands, but she isn't happy about it.

By the time we make it to the halfway point in Lausanne, Switzerland, it's been a day, and we're in need of freshening up our captives. The layover gives us time to let them rest, and it's at this point that we discover that both Bella and I now have the ability to heal other humans with our blood. Just a few drops, and they're all good as new. Their bite marks all disappear, and their strength improves in just a few minutes. It works so well that I wonder if we'll be able to keep them with us through the whole journey.

After Lausanne, we travel to Paris and then London before having to book passage on a steam ship that will carry us to New York. This seems to be the opposite way Jasper and Tanya came, but we're all familiar with it nonetheless, especially since Jasper and I have traveled this way quite a few times before. It seems strange to us to have so many people traveling with us, but the company is actually welcome this time.

For the ship crossing the Atlantic, Tanya and Chelsea stay glued to the young man's side whose name we have not bothered to learn. Jasper gets to know the young woman with him, calling her Marie even though this is not her name, and the woman between me and Bella eventually tells us her name is Catalina. Her brown hair is straighter than Bella's, and her body is about the same size, but it is her eyes that intrigue me the most as they are the brightest blue I have ever seen. I feel absolutely no shame at all when she becomes aggressive with me, straddling me and kissing me like there's no tomorrow. For her, there very well may not be, but she doesn't know that.

It seems being in such close quarters with me and Bella is having a prolonged effect on her, and neither Bella nor I are inclined to change that just yet.

"Can we keep her?" Bella asks while we're alone with Catalina so Jasper can feed in privacy.

"She's not a pet, Bella," I say a little harshly. "She's doing this because of something she has no control over."

"But we need her, and she needs us. Don't you feel it?"

Of course, I do, but I can't exactly tell Bella that. "Bella," I say. "It's not our place to keep someone with us against their will."

Bella smiles and caresses Catalina's face. "But it won't be," she says. Then she looks at Catalina. "Will it?"

The young woman shakes her head and leans forward to kiss Bella gently.

"She wants to stay with us," Bella says. "It's doesn't have anything to do with Tanya anymore. They're all attracted to us. There's something inside them that wants what we have. Please, Edward. I want her to stay with us."

Though I can't give in so easily, I feel like Bella is right about all the humans we've encountered so far. "Maybe," I say after a minute.

This makes Bella smile, and she lays her head on my shoulder, reaching for Catalina's shirt to untie it and expose her bare chest to us both.

We make port in New York four days after leaving London, and it is blessedly after the sun has set. The port is lit up and filled with many people who are like us, coming from another country and hoping to find a place to sleep before too much time can pass. There isn't a train leaving the city until the next day, so we again find a hotel room to spend the day recuperating from our journey.

This time because we all know it will a very long time before we do such a thing, Jasper and Tanya agree to find us one of the best hotels they can. A man on the docks says The Plaza Hotel is a new place in the city with fine rooms and good service, and this becomes our destination.

The accommodations are better than we expect, and the room is three times the size of the last which was twice the size as the first. We decline help from the staff to keep them from discovering our guests, and just a few more hours pass before the sun rises, making Tanya and Chelsea retreat to the bathroom with the young man who goes much more willingly than he has yet. Jasper also decides to take this time to feed, and that leaves Bella and me to look out at the city around us while Catalina rests.

"Can we see the whole world together?" Bella asks as we stand at the largest window that overlooks the park nearby.

"Of course we can," I say, holding her close and kissing her head gently.

"With Jasper?"

"I don't think he would have it any other way."

She sighs and wraps her arms around mine. "How long will it be before we're safe?"

I want to tell her with absolute certainty, but I can't, laying my cheek against hers. "I don't know," I whisper.

Thoughts of Carlisle and blood and body parts swim around her mind, and when she speaks, she stuns me. "I wish he was dead. I wish they were all dead. We were safe before they came along. I could've killed him."

Without giving in to my anger, I lean back and turn her to face me. "Bella, listen to me. You mustn't purposefully use your fire on people, even vampires. Promise me you won't."

"Because you used to be one of them?" she asks. "Or because you feel sorry for them?"

"No," I say shaking my head. "Because I'm afraid of what it will do to you. Killing another person changes you, Bella. I've been doing it for three hundred years, and I'm not the same as I was when I started. Neither is Jasper. You still have so much innocence, and you're so strong. I don't want you to lose that because of this."

"While he lives," she says of Carlisle, "none of us are safe. If not for him, neither of us would be the way we are now. I'm not regretful, but it is his fault. He should pay."

"And he will," I say as soothingly as I can. "Eventually. Sooner or later, and by someone else's hand. Someone who is used to killing. And trust me when I say there are worse things than dying, Bella. We would do better depriving him of what he wants most."

"And what is that?" she asks.

"All of us," I say simply.

By the time our companions are all awake and ready to leave, Bella and I are ready to get away from this city. It's not that the experience has been awful, but the farther from Carlisle we are right now, the better. Jasper joins us by the window while Tanya and Chelsea get our guests ready, and he feels my resolve in a way he hasn't in years. He says nothing, caressing my cheek and then kissing me gently. I know he won't say anything to Tanya, but in just a short period of time, she has become aware of our looks and touches. When I look at her, she knows something has changed.

The train will carry us through Chicago and then the plains of South Dakota before reaching Seattle which was a three-day trek from Forks. It seems like such a long journey, but it's only the last leg of an even longer journey still.

Bella contents herself with Catalina, and Tanya and Chelsea keep Marie and the young man close, leaving me and Jasper to our corner of the compartment which is only half the size of the last train we rode on.

"When we make it back to Forks," Jasper says quietly, "we might have to stay away from town for a while before they'll forget what happened with Carlisle. It may be years before then."

"We'll be fine," I say. "We have each other. And we have Bella."

"But we'll need more now that the two of you are . . . different. You'll need food and heat in the winter. When it was just you and me, it was easier. Having Bella makes things a little more complicated."

"She makes things better," I tell him. "And maybe Tanya will help us."

Jasper glances across the compartment to where she's sitting with Marie and Chelsea who's playing with the young man who's name we still don't know. He's so far embedded in Tanya's control that even I can't discern it from his thoughts. Nothing is said between Jasper and Tanya, but I can see in his eyes that despite all this time together, he still doesn't trust her.

I don't push it, just being content to have Jasper in my arms for the duration of our journey.

I barely notice anything else until it's time for the train to stop, which it does for a little while in Chicago before moving again. Bella reaches for me from where she and Catalina are sitting, and so Jasper can feed, I go to them without hesitating. This is the first time I notice that Catalina is only wearing a slip dress that barely covers her from the others in the compartment. With Bella's encouragement, Catalina sits on top of me and touches me on my face and my chest all while filling my head with the most lovely thoughts of her and Bella doing these amazing things to me that no other women have ever been able to do.

Arriving in Seattle feels like we've entered another world, especially when we all decide to walk for the night to get away from the people crowding the outskirts of town. It feels different to be walking again, and it is overcast again, meaning that we might be able to walk through the day until we reach our destination.

Bella's thoughts center around her mother and father as we walk, and it's at this point that I wonder if going back to Forks is even the right thing to do anymore.

Over the course of our walk, Jasper begins to agree, so much so that when we arrive at our house that was supposed to be our safe haven not so long ago, none of us really feels like it is anymore.

"You may come to my home with me," Tanya offers when she learns of this. "The rest of my coven will be there when we arrive to keep us all safe."

"How is that possible?" Jasper asks her.

"It's what I told them to do if Carlisle tried to persuade them to stay in Volterra, which knowing how persuasive he's become recently, is almost an absolute certainty. I mean none of you any harm. I only offer a place to stay until you know where you want to go."

Jasper glances at me and then Bella, contemplating this and wondering if it's a good idea before he looks at Chelsea. "Where are you going?"

She glances around, taking in her surroundings slowly. "Wherever it is safe," she says. "And it doesn't look like that place is here right now. So I will be going with Tanya."

Again, Jasper glances at me, unsure what to do. Bella moves to his side slowly, taking his hand in hers and then looking in Tanya's direction, making her decision very well known. Slowly, he nods and looks at Tanya.

"All right," he says, agreeing. "We'll come with you. But only if it is temporary."

Tanya nods. "Of course."

He glances at me and nods for me to follow him. With Catalina at my side, we all move on, having taken everything from the house we need, including clothes, food and any means of making shelter available to us.

The journey to Alaska is apparently going to be colder because we're very quickly approaching winter.

With any luck, we'll be settled in before the first storm comes. And then perhaps I can work on dissuading Jasper from his plans with Bella.

But my hopes are slight.

* * *

_**I'll say it now because it's not so obvious. I had planned on writing this chapter from Jasper's perspective, but Edward had a little more he wanted to say. The next chapter will be from Jasper's POV, I promise. A few other things that happened in this chapter weren't planned but I think they turned out nicely. Care to guess what they were? **_

_**Anyway, as I believe I've mentioned before, there will only be a few more chapters for this story so I can tie everything up. Will I be writing a sequel? Probably not.  
**_

_**But don't let that keep you from enjoying this story. I'll see you all next time!  
**_


	20. Beginnings

_**I know, I know. This one is getting a little strange. I can't say if that was my intent in the beginning or not, but we'll see how it ends in a few chapters.**_

_**We're back in Jasper's perspective for this one and the next, so hopefully, we'll get to see a little more in the way of what certain things feel like.**_

_**I don't own Twilight, but all the twists and turns in this little thing are mine.**_

_**And of course, this is all un-beta'd, so any lingering mistakes are mine. Along with a demented sense of fair play.**_

_**Ooh, and there's a bit of suggestiveness in this chapter, so you've been warned.**_

_**See you at the bottom!**_

* * *

_**Beginnings**_

I know just by looking that Edward is not happy with what I've decided, and when I feel what he's feeling, it only solidifies his hesitance. He understands, of course, because I told him a very long time ago that our lives were together, and whatever happened to him would happen to me. It was the only way I could make it equal between us. When I thought we would die in Volterra, I was completely prepared for it, and watching Carlisle assume control was the last thing I expected. But now, I won't go on with Edward and Bella when they are so grossly different from what I am.

From Italy to France, England to America, and then now that we're almost to a new place in Alaska, he's been adjusting to his new state, as has Bella, and with our human companions, those of us in need of blood have not suffered through the long periods of going without like we have sometimes in the past. Catalina, Marie (it's close enough to what her name actually is), and the young man who has yet to introduce himself are all bundled up against the cold, as are Bella and Edward. Tanya says that the rest of her coven should be arriving not long after we do.

As we've trekked into colder air, a few traditional ways along with new ones have been used to keep our humans warm. Edward and Bella have latched on to Catalina, sharing body heat and space with her, as well as copulating to intensify their bond with her. The only thing they don't do is feed her blood. Marie and the young man are used to sustain me, Chelsea and Tanya, and therefore, they're more in need of replenishment that way. Discovering that Edward and Bella's blood now has the ability to heal others was astonishing at first, but now it makes sense. Fire can create and seal, and it can also destroy and explode.

"Irina and I considered returning to the same dwelling from before," Tanya says as we walk through the dark trees toward a new clearing. "But because Carlisle knew where that was without being led to it, we decided against it. So until she arrives, we will need to improvise with cover, but we should only have to wait a day or two."

"The supplies we brought with us should help," I reply in agreement. "We will still need the cover of the trees during the day."

She nods but doesn't reply, and we continue walking.

Behind me, I watch Edward leading Bella and the humans while Chelsea brings up the rear of our group. Soon, I hope we will all be safe.

Only an hour remains before dawn when Tanya finally stops at the edge of a new clearing and decides this is good enough. Edward and Bella make a large enough fire to warm the immediate area around us, and Tanya and I start the beginnings of a shelter that will give us cover for the next two days until Irina can arrive and make a more permanent dwelling. We have only enough to make one large shelter, but it's finished just before the sun comes up over the horizon.

"This is better than I could have hoped for," Tanya says of our work. "You're very good with your hands."

This is the last thing she says to me before moving off to where Chelsea is sitting by the fire with the young man. Before too much time can pass, I feel an unquenchable need simmer to the surface of my mind.

"What's your name?" I ask, and he suddenly looks at me.

"Emil," is all he says before he is overwhelmed by Tanya and Chelsea.

Marie moves around the fire to my side, somehow sensing that I also need her to help me the way her companion will help my friends. It isn't until I'm drinking her blood and taking just enough to get me through the day that I realize this is exactly what Chelsea and Tanya have become. They might not be part of my coven as it is, but they've both helped me and done so much more than Carlisle ever did.

He is my enemy now, even more so than he was in Volterra trying to keep my life in his control. I know I don't want him to die. That would solve nothing. No, I want him to suffer, and there is only one thing that will do that.

After Marie and Emil are both resting by the fire and Bella is sitting next to Catalina with a bundle of food, I make my way around to where Edward is sitting alone. He doesn't protest when I take his hand and pull him to his feet, following me as I leave the shelter and step out into the semi-coverage of the trees around us.

"There's a good chance we will be here a long time before we move on to our own home," I say to him as we walk. "And I know you don't want me or Bella to suffer through what you went through."

He sighs, and I stop to turn to him, lifting my hands to his face to make him look at me.

"I want this, Edward," I whisper to him. "And I want you and Bella to want it too. I know it's dangerous, but I also know it's the only way for us all to be together. I love you so much, Edward. I want to be with you for eternity, and I want Bella to be with us. Don't you want that?"

"Yes," he says even as he cries because he knows he can't change my mind. "But if it doesn't work . . . If you take too much or not enough . . . If Bella doesn't recover the way she did before, I . . . It would kill me to lose her now. And I know that's not fair to you, but it's true. If anything happens to her, I won't recover from it."

"Chelsea watched you before, didn't she?"

He nods, and I step closer to have my arms around as much of his body as I can reach.

"Then she'll watch us again. She'll make sure we're both safe. And then it won't happen again. It'll just be the three of us."

When Edward embraces me and then squeezes me just as tightly as I'm holding him, I take the opportunity to inhale his new scent as deeply as I possibly can.

The most enticing, intoxicating smell assails my senses, but instead of biting him like I would normally want to, all I really want is to kiss him and have him and be inside him even if I know those times will come sooner rather than later. His new and improved mental abilities seem to have grasped onto this just as tightly as he's grasping onto me, and he leans back as these thoughts fill my head, kissing me the way I want but so much more passionately than he ever has since the first time we touched.

From the first brush of our lips to the first rip of clothing, the feeling of his skin on mine is like laying inside a burning fire. His hands rub my cooled skin and generate so much heat that I'm sure I must be perspiring, which is odd for me even after I've fed. He takes control of our movements, removing my shirt and shoes and then rubbing more of my skin to keep me warm. It's almost intoxicating itself, and soon, I feel like I've had enough blood to keep me hot for rest of my life.

When my cold fingers touch his hot skin, steam actually rises from him and surrounds us both in a haze of desire and lust in a way nothing ever has. I don't really even pay attention to the world around us as we become entangled for the first time since his change. I just want him, and nothing else really matters as long as we're together. I am never overwhelmed with the need to bite him or take his blood. It's as though his presence completely diminishes the need in me to hurt him the way I would any other human. That's when I know that he's something else.

First, all we do is memorize every inch of our bodies again. He still has all the same scars, but his skin is so smooth and hot. It's almost impossible to really feel them. His muscles all react to my touch the way they did before, especially the one I'm most concerned with. Edward still moves the same way he did before, and he still cries my name the same as before. He's still my Edward. When he turns around and does the same things to me, it's almost like my body has been craving him for too long. I can't believe I went so long without touching him and kissing him and having him so close. Every emotion coming from him tells me exactly what I already know. He is mine, and he always will be.

The vapor of our breath fills the air around us as the sun creeps across the sky, but it never touches us because of the thick canopy of pine trees. It's almost dark before I realize we've been outside all day. He hasn't complained, and neither have I.

"I need you to do something for me, Edward," I whisper as we gather the ripped clothes and begin our walk back to the shelter.

"Anything," he says instantly.

I have to gather my words much like my clothes, tightening them into coherent sentences before I speak again. "Tell me everything you felt when you and Bella went through this process," I demand softly. "Every hint and every whisper of a feeling. From biting her to waking up. I need to know all of it if I'm going to prepare myself for it, so there won't be anything that goes wrong. And I'll ask Chelsea the same thing."

Since we're both shirtless and barefoot as we walk, I can sense that he actually has to concentrate now on keeping warm now that I've given him a new task that's even less desirable than the last one was. His hesitation now is because he has to isolate distorted, blurry memories and connect them to the emotions that followed when he was being held captive and then forced to complete an experiment that would've meant his death if he hadn't obeyed.

"Some of it is still difficult to remember," he says, admitting for the first time that his new state of mind isn't as perfect as he's led on. "And the painful parts are, well, painful to think of."

I stop him then and turn him to face me again. "It's all right, Edward," I tell him gently. "We have time. Even with Carlisle still out there. He can't hurt us anymore. I know that now."

He steps forward just as I say this, kissing me again and grasping onto my waist. When he releases my lips, he lays his forehead on mine. "I'm just scared," he whispers. "I've had you with me all this time. I can't lose you either."

"You won't," I promise.

After a short pause, we walk back to the shelter where our companions are preparing food for those of us who need it.

Edward sits me down next to Bella so he can help the others, and she puts her arms around me as tightly as he did with her head on my shoulder. Her skin feels the same as his, burning my skin, but I don't let go.

"Are you both okay now?" she asks softly.

"We're fine," I whisper against the top of her head. "What about you?"

She doesn't answer me for probably a minute, then whispering almost inaudibly. "I know what you want," she says. "And I know what will happen to you when it's over. You'll be like Edward and me. But are you sure you want that? Everything will be different. All the things that have happened to me and Edward will happen to you."

"I've been thinking about this since I first saw you in the citadel, Bella. I've had Edward with me for three hundred years, and I know I can stay with him like this for the rest of time, but we won't really be together. We won't be the same. And I just found you, and it isn't fair to you for us to be different like this. I love you just as much as he does, but it's not balanced the way it should be. This will balance it. I know that, and I trust it. I just need you to trust me."

She laughed softly, laying her hand over the back of my head and kissing the side of my neck. "I do trust you, Jasper. And I always did. That's why this scares me. I don't want to lose you."

Just as I did with Edward, I hold onto her with as much of my arms as I can, promising her the same thing I did with him. "You won't lose me."

The anxiety I felt in her dissipates then, and even though she's still worried, she's no longer scared.

Edward brings back food for him and Bella to eat with Catalina, and for the moment, this ends all the other talk of what might happen in the very near future. Right now, it's only important that we're together.

In fact, that's the last of anything that's spoken before we all drift to comfortable places for us to all sleep. I keep Edward and Bella close to me, and that in turn draws Catalina to where we've settled. Chelsea and Tanya take charge of Marie and Emil, and the fire burns through the night, filling the shelter with enough warmth to keep us all comfortable until morning.

It isn't until the sun comes up that Tanya says we need to start making ourselves ready for her coven's arrival. There's enough cover outside the shelter that she, Chelsea and I can walk around and gather more wood for the fire, and Edward and Bella busy themselves practicing a few of her new abilities along with his. Our human companions rest most of the day, staying in the shelter where it's warmest.

Chelsea feels the new presence first, stopping in her gathering of pine needles as she stands a good thirty feet from me as I stop the same distance from Tanya. Then I feel it. It's not all relief, exactly, and it's not all confidence either. But as it comes closer to us, and I step closer to Chelsea, I know what it is.

Carlisle.

Tanya makes it to my side as Irina, Kate and Laurent emerge from the dense trees first, covered in leather skins but walking very slowly. I don't know if she senses what I do until the half smile on her face fades completely.

Behind her coven, or what's left of it, Carlisle and Esme walk a few paces slower. They're also wearing leather skins, and when they see us, the satisfaction on their faces is plain. In fact, Carlisle looks almost smug.

"Irina," Tanya says calmly though she is not nearly as much. "What is this?"

Her sister glances at their guests before speaking. "Our friends needed to see for themselves that you were all right. I tried to reassure them before we left Italy, but Carlisle insisted. And Esme would not let him leave alone."

Tanya nods and looks at me, not exactly asking me how I feel but allowing her eyes to drift back to the shelter and Edward and Bella as they sit on the other side of it. Then she looks at her sisters again. "Carlisle," she says, "explain yourself."

He grins and looks at Esme before stepping forward and then around Irina and Kate to make his way to us. Tanya steps in front of me and Chelsea, stopping his advance.

"There's no reason to be alarmed," he says confidently. "Everything is the way it should be. Aro is dead. I've sent Emmett and Rosalie and Alice to inform those loyal to him of the way things will be now that he's gone, and soon, we will be able to exist as we wish. No more rules. No more punishment for small infractions. All I really wanted was to speak to Jasper one last time. Things can be the way they were before you left," he says in my direction. He doesn't have to say the last part of what he wants to say. I can hear it in my head. _All I really want is you._

This doesn't surprise me at all. It doesn't make me angry or disgusted. I knew upon seeing him again that he would want me back. The problem is that I don't want him. And when I refuse him, he'll regret this for the rest of eternity. That will be his punishment.

"That wasn't part of the agreement," Tanya says firmly. "You helped him find his mate, and you said the choice was his. Even now, he only stays here because he has not decided where to go next. It is not your place to take that choice from him."

Carlisle bows his head and then looks at Esme, waiting until she steps forward to speak again. "That was the agreement before Aro was dead. There are more of his kind than ours, and if we're going to survive this, we have to be united. Wouldn't you agree, Chelsea?"

The surprise she feels that he knows who she is bleeds into my body, and before a complete second can pass, she's grasping onto my hand and hiding her body behind mine.

"Do not involve her, Carlisle," Tanya warns. "Or Jasper. And you will not twist the terms of our agreement before I took you to Italy. I told you once that I would never use my ability on you or your coven. Don't force my hand."

His confidence and self-assuredness is oozing from every pore of his body, making me nauseous and forcing me to look away in Chelsea's direction. She's afraid as well, invisibly using her ability to push Carlisle and Esme away from her and Tanya, and me. Carlisle steps a little closer to Tanya and easily takes her hand in his, obviously so sure that she will not be offended by his gesture.

"I wouldn't dream of it," he says of her warning. "But surely, you can agree that it is best that we remain allies."

Tanya tips her chin to him. "I would agree." She pauses and looks at Esme, extending her hand. Slowly, Esme mirrors Carlisle. "And it is best that we remain allies. But I've known you a long time, and I know when you've gone too far." Carlisle tries to pull his hand free, but Tanya holds on and steps closer to him. "You won't dream of forcing me to do this," she tells him, and the confident look on his face fades immediately. "Because you won't ever do this again."

She pauses again and looks at Esme, grasping their hands tighter. "Neither of you will ever seek me out again. You will not seek Jasper out again. Nor Edward or Bella. You will go back where you came from and stay there until the ceiling falls in on your heads. You will tell Emmett and Rosalie and Alice that we don't wish to see them again, and you will make sure they never disobey you. Even if you have to _chain them down_. Do you understand me?"

While I've only seen Tanya use her ability a few times, I don't think I've ever seen her use it so extensively or at such a high level. All of Carlisle's emotions and instincts shift around, causing him to agree to her terms with no argument on his part. In the few minutes it takes him and Esme to agree, it looks like Tanya uses enough of her energy to need a deep breath afterward.

Neither Carlisle nor Esme look at me or Chelsea, not even speaking to Irina, Kate and Laurent as they are released, turning and leaving in their leather skins to depart in the direction they came. But for some reason, I can't let them leave without doing one last thing.

"Wait," I yell, and they stop against the demand of Tanya's ability.

I leave Chelsea and move around to be in front of Carlisle. He looks at me like he knows me but he doesn't acknowledge me, staring at me a little perplexed. Without any warning, I pull my arm back and clench my fist, slamming it into his face and knocking him down with enough force to make his head snap back. Esme shrieks but doesn't move to stop me.

He looks up at me, confused, but I glare back at him.

"Now you can go," I tell him.

Barely hesitating, he rises and takes Esme's hand, turning and leaving without another word. After he disappears, I have to stagger back before Chelsea catches me.

"Do you feel better now?" she asks me, grinning a little.

Sitting down, I huff and then laugh. "Yes. As a matter of fact I do."

Tanya moves to be in front of me, laying her hand over my shoulder. "It's less than he deserves," she says, laughing herself. "But I did what I could. When he spoke of unity, I understand that he only meant if you were with him. I know you never wanted that because of your reluctance to follow us when we went to Italy. I know if we had not gone, my coven would not have been harmed, but I don't regret helping you. And I meant what I said. When you decide where you're going, you may go. You are welcome here with us until you find that place."

I lay my hand over hers, thankful for her presence for the first time. "Thank you," I whisper.

"For now, we'll all retire to the shelter, and when Irina has rested, she will make us a newer, more permanent home."

No one says anything as we will all move away from that spot to walk back to the shelter. Edward and Bella notice the new arrivals, but they're not alarmed by Irina or Kate and Laurent. In fact, Bella rises from Edward's side to greet them.

"You all risked your lives to save me and Edward," she says as she embraces Kate and Irina before taking Laurent's hand in hers. "Thank you, all."

Her behavior surprises them, but they don't push her away, accepting her words and her kindness.

They still sit away from the humans in the shelter, and a long silence passes before Tanya moves to where I'm sitting with Edward and Bella.

"I've been trying to allow you all your privacy," she says quietly. "But is what I've been hearing right? Are you seriously considering repeating the process that Edward and Bella went through in the citadel?"

I glance around the shelter at the others and see Chelsea watching us before I look at Tanya again. "I am."

She also looks around, lowering her voice again. "Chelsea said the process took three days. What happened in those days?"

"Edward's body changed," I tell her. "By the end of the second day, they could bathe his body in full sunlight. By the third day, the process was complete."

"And he had to drink her blood?"

I nod. "Yes. Enough of it to fill his body. But he didn't take enough to kill her. He knew when to stop, and I will as well. He'll be there to guide me."

She looks away into the fire, thoughtful and apprehensive even though she now understands what I want. She trusts me when I tell her that we'll be safe, but she's worried that it will ultimately destroy us all.

I don't need to sense her emotions to know this. I can see all of it on her face.

"All right," she says after a moment of thought. "I will help you as well. You'll need space and comfort. I can provide that for you when Irina makes us our new home."

I glance at Edward and Bella, knowing they've accepted what's going to happen as long as it's safe. Edward nods, and then I look at Tanya. "Any help you can give us will be much appreciated."

A small smile spreads across her face, and it's then that I know I've made a good choice in trusting her now. She's the presence in my existence that Carlisle should've had and might have if he'd given me the freedom I'd needed in the beginning.

Now it's just a matter of making sure I can protect Edward and Bella when we leave here, whenever that is now.

* * *

_**Next up will be an interesting chapter that will hopefully be different from the chapter of Edward and Bella "changing." That should be interesting.**_

_**Some people might be opposed, but this is the way I see it going, and if it doesn't end this way, it won't end. And well, it has to end somehow.**_

_**A few more chapters, and then this one will be closed. I'm thinking of an epilogue. What do you think?**_

_**Anyway, see y'all next time!**_


	21. Entanglements

_**I know, it's been a little while, but what can I say? You can rush these things. And since this is Jasper's changing process, I wanted to make sure it was just right before I posted it.**_

_**This is all in Jasper's Perspective, so there's bound to be a little confusion, but don't fret. It'll all make sense in the end.**_

_**I don't own Twilight, but this breed of Vampire has my markings all over it.**_

_**This is also all un-beta'd, so any lingering mistakes are all mine.**_

_**See you at the bottom!**_

* * *

_**Entanglements**_

It takes probably a day before Irina feels well enough to create a newer, more permanent home for us all. I know that I'll eventually want to leave and take Edward and Bella with me, and I know Tanya won't object, but being near these vampires feels nothing like what being around Carlisle felt like. For the first time in a very long time, I feel like staying put for a while.

I don't know how this will affect Tanya's decision to help us, but as long as we're comfortable here, I doubt she'll object. She and Chelsea seem to have bonded completely, which sort of makes sense with everything she told me about having difficulty finding a mate because she was the only one who refused to change who she was to do so. I can see after just a few days that they're already devoted to each other, just as I am to Edward and soon will be to Bella. This strangely makes me happy for her in a way I haven't been since I opened my eyes as an immortal four hundred years ago.

This new dwelling that Irina makes looks similar to the old one only because there are the same number of partitions and a large area in the middle for a fire. We're all instantly made comfortable, and Kate and Laurent have collected furs and leather for the bedding that was mostly used for mating and sleeping because vampires usually sleep during the day. Because Tanya and Chelsea have claimed virtual ownership of Emil and Marie, Kate, Irina and Laurent decided to feed while they were out collecting furs and leathers for the dwelling. I don't know if they plan on taking a human or two for themselves, but when they return, they are ready to last the night to sleep while Tanya and Chelsea attend to me and Bella. Edward will be close by even though there won't be much for him to do.

With fabric from a local Indian tribe, Chelsea has spent the day making Bella a new claiming dress, and I've spent the last two days not feeding. Edward has already told me that he had not fed in several days before he and Bella mated in the castle, and he thinks this is what made him take more than he would have since we don't usually wait more than a day between feeding.

Having Marie and Emil so close, along with Catalina, is starting to drive me a little crazy, but when the sun sets and Edward takes Catalina out of the largest partition of the dwelling, I know it's time. For what exactly, I don't know, but I just feel like it's time. Chelsea and Tanya come into the partition, and behind them, Bella is standing quietly in her new dress.

This one is simpler than the one she wore in the castle, beige in the firelight and tied over her shoulders with simple rope that still appears gold in the dim light. The dress is taken in near her waist and reaches the ground that has been covered with furs to keep our feet warm, and when Bella sees me waiting there, a smile spreads across her face. She's obviously happy to see me, but more than that, she's relieved that what she's feeling for Edward, she'll soon feel for me. We'll all be one entity, just the way I think it was supposed to be.

I only know some of what happened when she and Edward mated in Italy. He told me the moment when he took her blood was also the moment when he climaxed inside her. Bella didn't stop him when he bit her, allowing him to take what he needed like she knew when he would have enough. Chelsea confirmed this for me earlier before going off to make Bella's dress, and I'm hopeful that I'll know the same thing.

Bella doesn't wait for Tanya or Chelsea to tell her what to do, moving closer to me as I sit on the bedding that's been covered with furs for warmth and then kneeling in front of me. I'm already feeling a little weak from not feeding, especially since I rarely go more than a couple of days without it, and Bella seems to know that, laying her hands over my shoulders and then crawling over me until her chest is against mine.

"It's all right, Jasper," she says, obviously soothing me and then combing her little fingers through my hair in a way that sends shivers all over my body only for them to settle in my groin. I know this is her intent, and it surprises me. "Everything will be all right," she whispers and lays her forehead against mine.

Automatically, my hands hold her waist for the slightest of seconds before grasping onto the fabric covering her and easily pulling on it. I know she's bare beneath it, just as I'm sitting here in nothing but a pair of pants. Before this is over, we'll both be naked, and her blood will be coursing through my veins just as the virus inside me will be coursing through hers. This won't hurt her though. Chelsea has already confirmed this for me.

"You have to trust me, Jasper," Bella says, her lips brushing against mine just before she kisses me lightly. "I had to trust Edward. This is the way it's supposed to be. I know it."

That she has this much faith in me makes me smile, and I kiss her a little firmer than she just kissed me, pressing her body to mine.

"I know it too," I whisper to her, kissing her again and allowing the tip of my tongue to touch hers.

This urges her on further also, and our entanglement becomes stronger as I lift my hands to her shoulders and untie the ropes holding her dress together. Slowly, her warm skin presses against mine, and I realize that she's not just warm. Bella's skin is hotter than any other human I've ever fed from. This is the first thing that worries me.

What will happen to her if I do this?

I know she and Edward have already gone through this once, but what if that was all it was supposed to be? Just once?

Before that thought has a chance to form in my head, Chelsea moves in and touches my face. When she smiles and then nods for me to look at Bella, I do. First, the need I felt to keep Bella safe when I first met her strengthens into this deeper need to keep her next to me, to have her with me no matter what. It's not just about keeping her safe anymore. Now it's about keeping her with me for the rest of my life. Bella seems to feel this and wraps her arms around my shoulders so that our bodies are even closer.

Slowly, this need is replaced with desire, and the heat from Bella's body permeates my own, spreading from my chest and abdomen to my shoulders and then my hips until it reaches my toes and fingers. Bella kisses me first, and no other thought but her fills my head. From the top of her head to the tips of her toes, she feels like she's mine.

I take the time I have to memorize her face and her eyes, removing her dress and laying her down over the bedding to look at the rest of her as she glows in the low firelight. No other human has ever looked this way to me, and I'm so fascinated by it. Bella's skin is so smooth, and she feels just right in my arms as I explore every inch of her. She's soft in all the right places and tight just the same. After a little while, I forget that anyone else in nearby. All I know is that I'm laying here with Bella and nothing will be the same after this moment.

The heat on my skin makes its way deeper into my blood and then my bones, slowly like a flame that's spreading easily and perfectly. As it grows, my heart speeds up until I can feel it pounding in my ears and then my throat until my entire body is pulsing. The flame becomes a fire that's quickly igniting every cell in my body, and as my fingers and hands and arms entwine with Bella's until I can no longer tell where she ends and I begin, the fire turns to lava.

Suddenly, the length of my spine crackles and though I've never done anything like this in my entire existence, it feels like I've always been meant to do it. Here. Now. With Bella and no one else. And of course, that makes sense because it couldn't have been anywhere else or anyone else. Bella is even more unique than any human he'd ever known, and because of something neither of them had any control over, now Edward was unique too.

Because I can't read Bella's thoughts, I only know what Edward told me about when they mated, but while I'm laying with Bella and feeling like I'm going to burn up from the inside out, all I can think is that it doesn't feel anything like what I was expecting. Especially when I know nothing is between me and what I suddenly want more than anything I've ever wanted in four hundred years.

My fangs descend just as the fire is at its hottest, and Bella is wrapped around me tighter than any other human ever has. Just as I take my first bite, I look up and see Chelsea and Tanya watching us. The blood that fills my body is scorching and touches the very edges of my consciousness until my vision starts to go white and then black. I'm clamping my jaws around the other side of Bella's neck when my heart speeds up until it's slamming against my chest like it will explode at any second.

Then I can't breathe, and I begin to lose my hold on everything.

Was this what Edward felt? Did he feel like the earth was trying to swallow him up whole?

How am I supposed to know I'll make it out of this alive?

"Jasper."

Bella's voice finds me in the deep well I'm falling into, but I can't see her. Something warm touches my face and then I feel her hand grasp onto mine.

"It's all right," she whispers. "I'm here."

No. I'm alone in the dark. I'm falling a thousand feet and rising a million in the flash of a second, and then I slam back down to earth, knocking all the air out of my lungs so that I'm writhing on the ground, trying to breathe and unable to see where I am.

Did Edward feel this way too?

The lava envelopes me, tracing lines of flame up my arms and down my legs, replacing the cold with fire until the only thing left is a creature that only knows fury, joy, desire, hatred. Only two things are known to me at this very moment in time.

I was wrong.

All of this was wrong.

There's no way of keeping up with how much time passes between the darkness and the light again. The fury is replaced with calm, the joy with sadness, desire with rejection, hatred, love. However long this process takes, by the time it's finished, I don't want to open my eyes. If I do that, it won't feel real.

It's his hand that brings me to the surface again, and when he touches me, I use him as my anchor. Then he laughs, and I know it's finished.

"He's awake."

My sight is flooded with red and then gold, and when I open my eyes to see a circle of light above me.

"Jasper."

I follow the sound of his voice, looking up at him and really seeing him for the first time since I found him four centuries ago.

Another presence makes itself known on my other side, and this beautiful, luminous creature smiles at me like she's been waiting for me my entire life — or hers, or both. Her warm hand grasps onto mine, and then he takes my other hand to help me sit up.

I'm still naked, and when I look above my head at the light as it shines down on me, I'm almost mesmerized by its warmth.

Something in my memory makes me look at her and then him before I speak.

"How long?" I ask.

"Almost four days," he says softly, caressing my cheek and then looking behind him.

The brunette approaches me first, followed by the blond, but I'm not afraid.

"It's all right," the brunette says, replacing him and cupping my face in her hands. "You're all right, Jasper."

She's not warm like he is, but she's kind and gentle. She lays her hand over my chest where my heart is fluttering so fast that she smiles even wider when she feels it.

"It's so amazing," she says looking at him and the creature beside me before glancing at the blond. "I watched it the first time and now the second, and I still can't believe it. Are you thirsty?"

The word sounds familiar. I should know what it means. But for some reason, it sounds wrong. A heavy pull in my body causes me to grab my side, and she laughs softly, caressing my brow.

"That's more like it," she says. "Well, we'll find you something to eat. You should rest. I'm sure Edward and Bella can take care of you until we come back."

She rises and leaves with the blond, and when I look at him, I remember his name. Edward. How could I have ever forgotten him? He smiles at me and leans closer, lightly touching his lips to mine and then gently mingling his tongue with mine. He's so warm and perfect and beautiful, and he's mine. I know it. I kiss him back, grasping onto him as tightly as I can and wanting nothing more than to sit here with him like there's no tomorrow. He laughs like he's heard my thoughts, and when he leans back to look at me, I expect a smile, but instead, I find him confused.

"Jasper," he says, "don't you remember us?"

I look from him and then her. She must be Bella. Her scent and her body are so familiar to me, and when an image of her next to me and her arms and legs wrapped around me flashes through my mind, I lean closer to her and kiss her as well. She's not naked like she is in my memory, but the small shift she's wearing barely covers her from me.

"It's all right, Jasper," she whispers, even as I pull her closer to have her straddle me again. She caresses my cheek and kisses my cheek. "It's all right."

He touches my face again, and I look at him even as I hold her closer to me. "Jasper," he says again, "tell me you remember us."

Slowly, the confused look on his face intensifies in the rest of his body until he's no longer smiling and starts to panic. His heart speeds up a few beats a second until his is also fluttering, and then he's blushing. His panic starts to seep into me, and my arms tighten around her to keep her close to me.

"Edward, you're frightening him," she says.

"But he — "

"It's all right, Edward. He was down longer than you were. Chelsea said his memory might be affected until he adjusted. What's important is that we're here for him now. He needs us both. Remember?"

Her voice is so soothing, and it calms me considerably before she leans back to look at me with her hands on my face.

"It's all going to be all right, Jasper," she says softly, nudging the tip of her nose against mine and then kissing me again. "We're here for you, and if you have any questions, all you have to do is ask."

Even as she asks this, this very thing happens as a question bubbles up in my head. "What happened to me?" I ask, looking at him and then her.

"You've been changed, Jasper," he says, lifting his hand to my face. I follow his movement and lay my hand over his as he leans closer to have his forehead against mine.

"Into what?" I ask quietly.

"Something a thousand times better than what you were," he whispers. He's so worried and so scared.

I want to keep him calm as much as I can, touching his nose with mine and feeling his lips brush against mine before he suddenly kisses me again without any warning. My newer instincts tell me to nudge him away, and when I do, his fear and concern increases tenfold.

"Jasper," he says. "It's all right. It's me."

Though his voice is familiar and his face even more, I find that a path to more of my memories have been blocked, and I can't see around it to something very important. I think that's where he is, but I'm not sure. Do I lie and tell him something that isn't true?

"Patience, Edward."

The brunette from earlier is back with a bundle in her arms, and he sighs heavily without moving away.

"This will take time," she says to him, laying her hand on his shoulder and squeezing gently. "You took a little while too. Right now, he needs to eat. Why don't you go find him some clothes? Bella and I will feed him."

The disappointment in his eyes is enough to make me disappointed, and he rises without saying anything, allowing the brunette to replace him as he steps back toward the opening. He looks back at me once, sorrowful, and then he's gone.

"Don't worry about him," the brunette says. "It will take him time to adjust as well. You're doing perfectly. Now, we'll have to start with something light while you're still in transition, but everything here should be edible."

I look at her when she says this, really look at her, and she looks at me, sitting very still while her face and the memories in my mind merge and then brighten.

"Chelsea," I say, and she nods.

"That's right," she says with a newer, prettier smile. "I was with you the night you and Edward were bonded."

While referring to him, she's also preparing a small assortment of things for me to eat.

"Of course," she continues, "I didn't realize I would be assisting you like this now. But it's all in good time. Here," she says, lifting a cup of light brown liquid to my lips. "It's tea."

Gently, I sip the hot liquid, feeling it fill my stomach until I can't take anymore, and at my side, Bella rubs my shoulder and strokes my hair.

A newer memory peeks through the barrier, and I can see her in different clothes, cowering away from me but glaring all the same.

"When I found you," I say to her, "you were all alone."

She's sad for a second or two, but then she's happy, touching my face again. "Yes, I was," she says quietly. "But you and Edward found me, Jasper. You'll both be my family now, and we'll all take care of each other. He's in here somewhere," she tells me as she caresses my brow. "You just have to find him. He needs you right now."

While she's touching me, I reach out to touch her, pulling her closer like I did upon seeing her and holding her warm body as close to mine as I can. Not only is she luminous and beautiful, but she also smells so amazing, warranting the strongest reaction from me I've felt in a very long time.

"You'll have time for that later," Chelsea says. "Right now, you must replenish yourself. It's going to be night soon, and Tanya and I will have to go hunting. You'll be here alone, and there are wolves out tonight. We don't yet know what coming into contact with one of them will do to one of you. Come on."

She lifts a newer, clearer liquid for me to consume, and Bella helps her.

This takes another little while, and once that is all gone, Chelsea moves to put away the rest of the food for another time when I'll be better able to eat it.

Just as she's closing the bundle and slipping it under a protective leather skin, a loud howl pierces the air and causes her to gasp.

"Oh! They're closer tonight. The moon won't wane for another few hours." She shakes her head, shakes away the fear creeping up her spine and looks pointedly at Bella. "Keep them all in this tent. We'll be back as soon as possible."

Bella hasn't left my side this entire time, and she holds onto me tighter. "Be careful."

Chelsea bows her head and turns to leave just as he returns, and she nods her head toward me before she steps away without saying anything.

Once she's gone, he moves closer and sits away from me and Bella, now angry and defensive.

"The leather will mask our scent," he says. "We should be safe."

A wide silence fills the space between us, and I wish for the right things to say to him, but before I can say them, Bella speaks up.

"Edward, will you hold me?"

She doesn't wait for him to answer, or me to protest, rising from my arms and moving to sit over his legs. He doesn't hesitate, enfolding her in his arms and laying his hand over her head as she lays it over his shoulder. After a minute of this, he sighs and closes his eyes, and then he nods before he leans back to look at her.

Then they both look at me.

Suddenly, an image I'm not expecting hits me hard enough to take my breath away as I see Edward as he sits in front of a tub filled with water while Bella stands in the middle of it waiting for him to bathe her. He's being so gentle with her, and I know he would never do anything to harm her. It's this new memory that makes me lunge closer to him, but not to attack him. I'm kissing him before another second can pass, and though he's surprised, he doesn't stop me, keeping Bella close and holding onto me all the same. His warm tongue touches mine, and a newer set of chills not associated with a memory slips up my spine just as he releases me.

"I missed you too," he whispers to me.

"Forgive me," I plead. "I could not see."

"You have nothing to be sorry for," he says. "I was afraid, and I shouldn't have been. But I know everything will be all right now. I told Tanya what you were thinking just before, about us maybe staying here for a little while until we've all adjusted. She agrees, but only if you still want to."

"I have both of you with me now," I tell him. "It doesn't matter where we are anymore."

He doesn't agree or disagree, but it's not because he's worried. It's because he understands.

We've found our home. It wasn't a place after all. It's each other. It's Bella. Now that we can go anywhere in the world we want, I think we've finally decided we don't really have to anymore.

We can finally stop running from one place to another.

* * *

_**Don't let this ending fool you. We're not done quite yet. I figure one or two more chapters before the end. Right now, it's still going.**_

_**Also, I wanted to make sure this was completely different from the way Edward went through his change. The fire is the same, of course, but I wanted to focus more on what Jasper felt, as opposed to just going through the motions the way Edward did. Jasper is, after all, an empath.**_

_**So what did you think? Good, bad, meh?**_

_**Everybody have a good night!**_


	22. Sunlight

_**Oh, my gosh, can you believe how long it's been since I updated this story? I promise I've been working on it, and I can also promise that it is winding down. Just this and one more chapter to go.**_

_**We're trying something new this chapter with a new perspective. This and the last chapter will both be in Bella's POV.**_

_**I don't own Twilight. I promise.**_

_**I also edit my own stories, but I'm human, so if I've missed anything, let me know. I'll try to fix it.**_

_**Read on!**_

* * *

_**Sunlight**_

Springtime is an especially difficult time for a Vampire.

At least that's what Edward and Jasper are always telling me. They tell me that they've always tried to stay in places where it always rains or snows and is therefore always cloudy, or else they would have to remain in the shadows and only go out at night. Edward doesn't much appreciate the darkness, and Jasper isn't that well acquainted with it either.

But as I sit on our large, blue and white blanket as it covers the rich green grass surrounding our picnic, all I know is that they won't ever have to worry about anything like that ever again.

It's only been about four months since our life together truly began, and while I have adjusted almost completely, my companions are still a little in awe of their new state. Jasper says it's been four hundred years since he truly saw a sunrise and a sunset, and Edward can't remember the last time he felt the sun's rays shine on his body without having to worry that he would burn from it.

Chelsea says they'll soon forget the sensation of changing from vampires to what they are now, and they'll do so before we have to move to a new place. She and Tanya have been observing us closely these last few months, because we have not left their dwelling except to walk through the woods in search of adventures that will quench my thirst for travel. Until we find some way for our minders to come with us, it seems we're stuck in the Pacific Northwest somewhere between Alaska and Washington.

My plans of seeing the world have been put on hold for the time being.

Watching Edward as he lies on the blanket and basks in the sunlight can sometimes do this when I remember that he is not accustomed to doing such a thing on a daily basis. The fact that he's still catching up on his sleep also helps. Jasper is somewhere nearby, gathering flowers that he plans to do something special with when we return to Tanya, but for now, I can just gaze at Edward and appreciate him in all his beauty.

"You still think so loudly," he says, grinning and then opening his eyes to look at me.

Slowly, I crawl to his side and lay down next to him. While he's not wearing his shirt or shoes, I'm only in a simple shift that Tanya brought me from a town several hundred miles away. We've already been swimming once this morning. I sense another swim in the near future.

"It is because you evoke such prominent thoughts," I say to him, caressing the skin above his chin and kissing his shoulder.

He wraps his arm around me and holds me closer. "You have red in your hair," he says idly. "I only just noticed now."

"Surely not as much as you have in yours," I say, lifting my fingers to stroke his hair that has begun to grow once again.

He smiles wider and leans in to kiss me. "Surely not," he whispers, deepening his kiss and then turning me to face him.

In these last few months, to say that Edward and Jasper have showered me with affection would be an understatement. In fact, I can't remember a time when I've felt more loved and wanted and needed. Not even when I'd been with Mama and Papa did I ever feel this way, and I could only express how much I loved it by reciprocating it.

This wasn't the first time we'd all spent the day in the sun loving each other and giving each other everything we had to give, and I knew it wouldn't be the last. The whole world could wait an eternity if I could stay with these two amazing men and love them for the rest of my life, and if I only ever saw this small corner of it, I knew I would be happy.

With Edward's body close to mine, I forgot nearly everything. Having his hands rub my skin and arouse my fire felt exquisite to put it mildly, and the droplets of water still on my skin evaporated when he made it very clear what he wanted. I knew the current between us was strong and unbreakable, and it was the same with Jasper. The three of us together could handle nearly everything the world had in store for us.

"The two of you better not be doing something that will causes us to be out here too long," Jasper says from not that far away. "Because these flowers are not going to last forever."

While Edward doesn't release me, he laughs and lifts his head to look at our companion who is coming closer with a handful of lavender, white and gold wild flowers. Jasper makes it to our blanket and kneels behind me with his bounty, leaning over me and touching my chin with especially dirty fingers.

"Hello," he whispers, just as he always does when he sees me after we've been apart any length of time.

I grin and wrap my hand around his neck. "Hello."

"You look like you're enjoying yourself," he says teasingly, kissing me before I can comment on that very thing.

Slowly, he turns me to face him, nudging the shift I'm wearing up my legs as Edward scoots closer to me until his chest meets my back. Their heat combines with mine, and the sun shines down on us without abandon. This day cannot get any better even when I know we'll have to return to Tanya soon. It is a full moon after all, and the wolves will be out tonight.

"No reason to bring that up," Edward says. "Especially when we have all the protection we need. You're not scared of them are you?"

"Honestly, no," I say. "But we should still err on the side of caution. Tanya's right to be careful about when we're alone. If it weren't light out now, I'm sure she would be coming to retrieve us."

Jasper sighs because I'm the one reminding them of this, but he smiles all the same because it doesn't bother him anymore than it does me or Edward. "Yes, what a strange thing it is now for us to have those to look after us when we used to do it ourselves."

I lift my hands to his face and kiss him as I've been doing since his change, and this is all it takes to make him focus on me. "I didn't say we had to go back now," I tell him.

He knows my meaning more than Edward, scooting ever closer and holding me against him without a care in the world. Indeed, we have very few of those anymore with Tanya taking care of everything we need.

Though I'm not good at predicting events before they unfold, my mentioning the wolves seems to be in alignment with the weather as a storm moves in not long before dusk. We have to pack up our things and make our way back to Tanya's dwelling before the rain has a chance to catch us. I've been practicing my running, and now I'm almost as fast as Edward and Jasper. It's such a strange sensation to be able to run and play and enjoy so much with the people I love most. But the running is my favorite.

It's Edward's favorite too.

Unfortunately for our clothes, we're all drenched when we reach Tanya as she waits outside the dwelling for us to arrive.

"You're cutting it close," she says. "We need to talk."

Her tone instantly dampens our mood, and we all know we're in store for a new lecture — about our safety or theirs.

Everyone is gathered around the fire of the dwelling. Because we're still somewhere between winter and spring here, the fire is always necessary. Kate, Irina, Chelsea and Laurent are all waiting, as are our human companions who have stayed with us all this time. Catalina beckons me to her, and while Edward and Jasper follow, we all sit where we usually do when Tanya has news.

"A new pack of wolves has begun to migrate farther north," she says as soon as we're all convened. "Closer to where we are now. In the next month, it will be necessary for us to move further inland from here."

Kate reacts first. "How did they find us?" she asks. "We've been so careful."

"I've been monitoring this for a little while," Tanya says, glancing at me and then looking at her sister. "I'm uncertain that they've actually found us, but their proximity to us is too close for me to remain comfortable. The only solution I can think of is for us to move to a newer home as far from this place as the night will give us. It won't be as easy with the days lengthening, but we should start planning as soon as possible."

Catalina grasps onto my hand, but I know it isn't because she's worried or scared. Sometimes, she simply holds my hand tighter than usual. I think it has to do with me being her connection to this strange band of people, vampires, humans and the like. We all rely on each other, and we all take care of each other. Emil and Marie have helped sustain our vampires, and I have helped sustain them. My scars are still healing, but the older one are all but gone. If we have to move, then we will move.

"Where will we go?" Irina asks, clutching Laurent's arm tightly.

"Further into the mountains for now," Tanya says. "If we can remain unseen by the humans nearby, we should be able to stay away from the wild animals until a better solution can be found. A more permanent solution."

It sounds to me like Tanya might be tired of being so nomadic just like Edward and Jasper were when they found me, but I somehow know she won't be suggesting that we all move south to Forks because I'm sure Carlisle will expect that.

I haven't forgotten anything he did or the things I know he wanted to do when he found me. I still think he deserves more than what Jasper dealt him, but the decision wasn't left up to me. Now, it is only necessary that we steer clear of him for the rest of, well, eternity, and as long as we do that, we will never have to deal with him again. When Tanya says we must move farther inland, she means the Canadian Rockies and possibly over their summit to the plains of this unexplored land.

This is perfectly fine with me.

"How do you expect the three of us," Jasper asks, pointing to our humans, "and the three of them to cross even more dangerous terrain than what we survive in now? And beyond that, it could be worse."

"We have the means to protect you," Tanya says certainly. "And you've almost completely adapted to your new lives. It was only a matter of time before this became necessary. You knew that, Jasper. Especially with the wolves nearby."

"But in a few more months, it will be warm enough for us to move more safely. Doing it now would mean crossing dense woods and inhospitable weather."

Because she's not accustomed to having two Alpha-type vampires in the same group — her and Jasper — Tanya usually has to contend with him arguing against what she suggests because she knows it's all he knows to do. Jasper has been surviving with Edward for three hundred years. She knows he only wishes for their fortune to continue. When he argues like this, sometimes it's all she can do to not become angry at his questions and concerns.

"If we wait more than a month to leave," she says in response to him, "it will give the wolves more chance to find us. I don't want to spend another full moon in this area, Jasper. This is my dwelling, and I've allowed you to stay here because you do not wish to leave as of yet. If you wish, you can take Edward and Bella and leave. Until then, this is my coven, and I make the decisions."

She leaves nothing else open for discussion, leaving us all there to ponder what she's told us, and when she's gone, Chelsea follows her, looking at me and then disappearing from sight with her new mate.

Edward, Jasper and I retire to our newly assigned partition with Catalina, and we sleep. But I'm awakened not long afterward by the sound of a howl on the night air. Four or five more follow, all sad, all resonating, and it sounds like they're communicating, crying, hurting.

I'm overwhelmed by their sounds to the point of tears because I don't think I've heard anything so beautiful, and it makes me wonder why there is so much difference between the wolves and vampires.

Yes, one is much more dangerous than the other, but they're both creatures of habit and circumstance. It seems like neither truly had any control over their ways, and yet, they'd both been condemned to a life of restraint and misery and, in some cases, revenge on those who had given them their lives. I have no frame of reference for the wolves, but all the vampires I know are good and kind and fair. I hoped that never changes.

"Bella, why are you awake?"

Edward's voice startles me a little, and when I jump, he holds me a little tighter and then makes me look at him. "Have you been crying?"

Slowly, I wrap my hands around his arms, nodding and scooting closer for his warmth and comfort. Even with Jasper being the empath, Edward has always been a little better at doing this, especially when I wake him from sleep because I can't sleep with any weight on my shoulders.

"What's wrong?" he whispers.

"It's the wolves," I say, crying again and curling my body into his, wishing I could fold up and be safe. "Their cries are so sad. Why, Edward?"

He holds me so tight and kisses my head. "I don't know, Bella. It's not like being a vampire, I know that. And Caius tried to eradicate them years ago, but they've clearly continued spreading their kind. I don't know if it's a lonely existence or even if it's painful. But I'm right here. You're all right, Bella."

His words comfort me a little, but the howling persists. I press my ear to Edward's chest, zoning in on his heart as it beats steadily. He breathes deeply and presses his lips to my forehead.

"Will we ever be safe?" I whisper suddenly.

He leans back, making me look at him again. "Of course we will. Tanya's doing what needs to be done for us all to be safe. It's simply within Jasper's nature to argue. He and I have argued many times over where to settle after we've fed." He pauses and smiles, leaning in until his nose touches mine. "Agreeing over you was a first for us. You brought us together, Bella. More so than being vampires ever could. You understand that, don't you?"

I can't help but smile, kissing his lips and pressing our bodies closer together. "I'm starting to," I whisper.

The smile on his face tells me he has no problem becoming involved despite the fact that we're laying in a large sleeping mat with Jasper and Catalina close, and I don't have a problem with it either. In fact, he has the shift I'm wearing up around my thighs when a newer, closer howl pierces the air, halting his hands as they hold me against him protectively. This howl isn't sad like the others. It's angry and resonant, carrying from the dense forest to where we're all resting.

"Perhaps," he says softly, kissing my cheek and then my neck, "we should refrain from getting involved this way when the moon is high. Especially since I know if I start now I won't want to stop."

I want to argue. I don't care about wolves or the moon or even where it is in the sky. I only care about these people around me now.

But Edward is right. We need to be careful.

I don't move away from him, but instead of continuing this, I lay my forehead against his. "Only if you promise that when we get wherever we end up, we won't let anything stop us from doing whatever we want."

He laughs just one, quiet and gentle and easy, kissing the tip of my nose. "I promise, Bella," he says. "Whatever we want. Perhaps we'll even have a house there."

This makes me feel a little better over the intense sorrow I've felt because of the wolves, and Edward holds me close so I can relax and go back to sleep. In Edward's arms, and Jasper's when he turns to hold me from being near Catalina most of the night, I have pleasant dreams of wild flowers and the most beautiful red hair and green eyes. I feel like I would do nearly anything to see those things come to life for us all.

By morning and the waning of the full moon, which will still take all day, the fact that we're moving has become evident. Large pouches of clothes, food and supplies have been placed around the fire, and Kate, Irina and Laurent have begun taking down the fur coverings of our partitions that give us the privacy we all need. After I have something to eat, along with the rest of us who need nourishment, I help Tanya with whatever I can, knowing this will take most of the day before we leave just after sundown.

"I thought you of all of us would have some sort of objection," Tanya says as we pack up furs and leather made for us by local Indian tribes. "Edward has expressed to me your love of this place."

"It's just a place," I say with a shrug. "My true home is with Edward and Jasper, so anywhere we go together is home."

I'm closing another pouch when her cool hands close over mine to stop me, and she sits me down, lowering her voice.

"I'm doing this for you, Bella," she whispers, so low only I will hear. I know it because there's commotion between us and the others.

"Why me?" I nearly mouth, not wanting the sound of my voice to carry.

Without saying anything, she lowers her hand to my belly and then lifts her eyes to mine. There's no need for her to explain as she rises and continues packing. I'm left sitting there wondering what I'm going to say to Edward and Jasper the next time I see them.

The packing is finished just as the sun is setting, and those of us who require it are all bundled up against the cold as it has begun to snow gently. Because we're so far north, this is a common occurrence when moisture moves into the area, but it won't slow us down. Irina dismantles our dwelling, leaving behind four new trees as large as the ones around them and allowing the falling snow to cover them and our trail as we leave the area for good.

Edward and Jasper stay close to me, while also keeping up with Catalina, Marie and Emil, and it's clear they think it's necessary to make sure I'm all right. I'm trying not to think about what Tanya said to me earlier, but I also know it's important for my companions to know this new development.

We can't stop until we're far enough away for Tanya to feel comfortable, and this means she has to smell the air and not detect the wolves nearby. It means she has to listen to the wind and not hear them padding through the snow. It means she has to look through the trees and not see their eyes or fur within the woods around us. None of us knows when this will happen, so we follow her without arguing.

"Bella," Jasper says quietly as we all walk through the darkness, tightly grouped together to keep each other safe. "Are you all right?"

I glance at him as he takes my hand in his. "I'm perfectly all right," I tell him. "Why?"

He doesn't say anything for a minute, walking along the unmade path and clearly collecting his thoughts before he speaks again. "It's just that I can usually sense your emotions so certainly. You've always been so clear in what you're feeling, but right now, you're conflicted. I can't decide if it's really you or something else inside you."

His words force my mind to settle on a look from Tanya's face earlier when she looked at my belly, and my heart speeds up. I'm sure he notices, especially when he stops walking while still holding my hand. Because the very idea refuses to truly surface in my mind, Edward keeps walking, but I know Jasper has felt what I'm feeling.

"Bella," he whispers.

So we don't catch anyone else's attention, I pull on his hand to keep him moving, and he looks at me without saying anything.

"It's all right, Jasper," I tell him. "I'm all right."

But it's too late. I can already tell that he's worried and afraid and uncertain.

I can't say anything else to keep his anxiety down, and we keep walking behind our vampires who are keeping us safe. Edward glances at us, but he doesn't say anything. No one says anything.

Because we're in the mountains already, it's not just wolves that we have to be concerned about. There are bears, mountain lions, and other animals that would hunt us the way vampires hunt people. The trees protect us from the vast majority of the snow until it stops, and by then, it's almost morning. We won't be stopping for long, so a temporary dwelling is created to protect the vampires during the day, and even though I'm tired, I can't sleep, moving through the fallen snow to the tree line not far from the shelter.

"Bella."

Edward's voice startles me, and I turn to see him there in his leather and fur skins to keep warm. He moves closer to me and removes the gloves from his hands, touching my cheek with his fingertips. "There's something wrong with you," he says quietly. "I don't know what, but I know there's something wrong."

Because his hands have been in the gloves, his fingers are warm. He steps as close to me as he can, and my body gravitates toward his until I'm holding him the way he's holding me. In the last few months, we've had moments like this, away from Jasper, and I think we always will, even a hundred years from now or more.

"Talk to me, Bella," he whispers, his breath vaporizing in the freezing air. He lays his forehead against mine, almost touching my lips with his. "I promise not to be upset."

His gentleness belies the fear in his voice, but his words are humorous for some reason. I collect the words carefully, thinking of Tanya, the way she looked at me and how Jasper was having trouble reading my emotions. I know what it means even if I don't understand exactly how this happened so quickly. Jasper and Edward are still adjusting, as am I, but it's very obvious that their change has been completed for long enough, as has mine.

So when I say this, I know it absolutely, without any reservation. "Edward," I say as softly as I can so only he will hear, "I'm pregnant."

His reaction is almost instantaneous as he steps away from me, pushes me back and then looks down at my belly the same way Tanya did. She was trying to be discreet, I'm sure, but Edward is not doing anything to hide his surprise and his disbelief. I can't do anything to stop his conclusions from reaching completion.

"How is this possible?"

Again, I smile. "Edward, surely you must know how humans procreate," I say jokingly.

"No, I know that, Bella," he says, not smiling, not joking. "But how? I have been essentially dead for three hundred years. So has Jasper. It doesn't make sense."

I step closer to him and touch his face, making him look at me. "It makes sense because you're alive again. So is Jasper. And it's so new that I didn't even feel it until after Tanya told me that she is moving our home for me. So I will be safe. So we will all be safe as well."

He lifts his hand to mine, his eyes on mine even though his mind is somewhere else completely. He doesn't ask what I think he will, wanting to know if this child is his or Jasper's. He just looks at me. When he does speak, it's more to himself than me.

"I never once thought about having children," he says. "But when we left the Volturi, I had a dream. There was a boy with hair like mine and a girl. She was so beautiful, Bella. Is that really happening? Are we really having children?"

I'm smiling again, hearing that having me in his life now has made him want such a wonderful thing. "I think so," I say nodding. "I really think so, Edward."

His surprise and fear fade almost completely as he pulls me closer and enfolds me in his arms, kissing me and cradling my head in his hands. "I was so worried it would be something horrible. I was so worried it was something that would hurt you or make you change, but I wasn't expecting this at all," he tells me, obviously happy and relieved that this will be something we can face together. "We should tell Jasper."

"I already know," Jasper says from behind us, and we both turn around to see him coming closer.

Edward and I both see how unhappy he is.

"Jasper," Edward says, "it's all right. We can take care of her now. We can take care of them both now."

"Can we?" he asks. "Why? How? With a bunch of vampires protecting us from phantom shadows and distant howls. Is that even how it's supposed to be?"

Edward looks at me, and I move forward to be in front of Jasper. "Tanya is only trying to keep us safe," I say. "You know that. And we all agreed to stay with her. She's tired of running too, Jasper. But it's not safe out here for us. Any of us. You can't truly be upset because of this. If anyone should be upset, it's me."

He lifts his eyes to Edward, still unhappy but beginning to relent just a little. "I just never thought anything like this would happen to me now. And I'm worried. Will this child be like you? Me and Edward? There's no way of knowing, and if it's real, then it will be more painful to watch them grow up and die because I cannot. I couldn't bear that. It wouldn't be right."

Gently, I take his hand in mine, laying it over my belly that hasn't even begun to show the change within me, and with Jasper close, I hold his eyes with mine. "I know exactly what you're feeling," I tell him. "Because I'm feeling it too. But I have faith, Jasper. In you and Edward, and in myself now because of you. Because you found me and gave me a new reason to have hope. You must have faith in me, and in Edward. In us. We have each other now, and nothing will ever change that. This child is just one more testament to that, and if we all believe that everything will turn out for the best, then it will. I believe it, and so does Edward."

I look to him for his agreement, and he gives it without hesitating.

"Of course I believe it," he says. "And the farther inland we get, the safer we are. I can feel it in the air. Whatever happens tomorrow and the next day will take care of itself. We just have to have faith in each other. I have faith in you, Jasper," he says reaching for his mate and cupping his hand around the back of Jasper's neck to pull him closer. "You trust me, don't you?"

Without any reservation, Jasper kisses Edward and reciprocates his hold, keeping them close and then laying his forehead over Edward's while still holding onto me. "I trust you," he whispers.

He leans back to look at Edward and then turns his eyes to me, moving closer to kiss me as well as he cups my face in her hands. I hold onto him with as much strength as I can, wishing our coats did not separate us but thankful for their warmth as he turns me to walk back to the temporary home we have for the day. Edward follows us quietly, smiling at me as I smile back at him and taking my hand when I offer it.

Nothing negative is said again as we return to the tent to get some rest from the long walk, and I have enough faith that there won't be anymore negative thoughts for a little while.

I think we all have enough faith for that now.

* * *

_**One more chapter to go. What could we possibly add to this? Well, you'll just have to wait to find out. Hopefully not too long though.**_

_**See ya next time!**_


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